Actress from Slumdog Millionaire Up for Sale

Nine-year old Indian actress Rubina Ali who played the youngest version of Latika, the female lead, in the film Slumdog Millionaire is reportedly for sale by her father.

In a bid to escape India's real-life slums, Rafiq Qureshi put angel-faced darling of the Oscars Rubina up for adoption, demanding millions of rupees worth £200,000.

Her uncle told undercover reporters, "Obviously if you wanted to adopt we could discuss this, but her parents would also expect some proper compensation in return." In another phone call, father Rafiq coolly confirmed: "Whatever you have discussed with Rajan, I agree with. Whatever money is agreed by Rajan, I will accept.

"We can discuss everything about this deal when we meet. There's a lot of interest in Rubina, she's become very famous."

Without querying the background, intentions, or even the names of Rubina's prospective new parents, Rafiq arranged to meet us.

And as soon as we said the wealthy family lived in the United Arab Emirates Rafiq suggested: "We would love to come there.

"I have never been there but I have seen it in Indian films. It looks a great place."

Trafficking of poor Indian children to the Middle East, where they are forced to risk their lives as camel jockeys or subjected to sexual abuse, is common in the Mumbai slums.

It is common all over South Asia.

A brother sold both his sisters because he could not pay his debts. His younger sister was only nine years old. He was not aware of the darkness in which he was pushing his sisters and today he does not know where they are and what happened to them. More than one lakh Nepali girls are working in prostitution houses. They are bought from Kathmandu and sold in Mumbai.

Poverty is not the only cause that forces girls to become prostitutes. An eleven-year-old girl was raped by four men who were 35 years of age and above. To solve the matter, one of them offered to marry her. As a result of trafficking, many girls eventually land up in prostitution houses.

Girls once bought are taken to Delhi where they are taught how to dress up and apply make up. Television and radio have a huge impact on naïve girls. They too want to wear nice clothes and lead the glamorous lives that the people in television are living. Therefore to fulfil their dreams they are talked into taking up prostitution.

But trafficking of young girls is certainly not limited to Asia. Atlanta is a global hub for human trafficking, and is the capital of sex trafficking in the United States. Instead of traveling to Thailand to have sex with a child, many men simply come to Atlanta. They are picked up at Hartsfield Jackson International Airport by a pimp who takes them to have sex with a child slave. They are then dropped back at the airport and fly back home to have dinner with their family the same night.

To learn more about human trafficking, here and abroad, visit HumanTrafficking.org.