Thane, Sep 24: Up to 200,000 Nepalese women and girls are being held against their will in Indian brothels, with roughly 25 per cent of them aged below 18 years, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

This was stated in the "The State of World Population 2006" issued by UNFPA.

The report also said that an estimated 12,000 Nepalese women and girls are trafficked to India every year with the promise of jobs in urban areas or abroad. Some families knowingly send their daughters to brothels because they consider them a burden, it said.

The Nepal government has identified 26 districts from where women and girls have disappeared, said the report dealing with women and international migration that was released here recently.

The Reproductive Health Initiative for Youth in Asia (RHIYA), a partnership of the European Union and United Nations Population Fund, is focussing on 19 "high risk" impoverished districts to educate parents, community leaders, health officials and young people about the dangers of trafficking, it said.

It also provides girls and young women with training and empowerment opportunities, the report said.

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