Anuradha Koirala is a renowned human rights activist and the founder of Maiti Nepal, an organization she established in 1993 to provide critical services to women and children who have endured the pain and suffering of being trafficked within and from Nepal for commercial sexual exploitation. 

Maiti Nepal operates one prevention home, fourteen transit homes, three information and surveillance centers, one child protection home, two women’s rehabilitation homes, two hospices, one clinic, and a high school. Every day, more than one hundred children receive direct services from the organization. 

Maiti Nepal conducts awareness campaigns, community sensitization efforts, rescue operations, and the apprehension of traffickers. It also offers legal support to survivors, implements women’s empowerment programs, and provides antiretroviral therapy (ART) to children and women living with HIV. 

Anuradha Koirala has received numerous national and international awards in recognition of her courageous work and lifelong dedication to the rights of women and children. Among her many honors, she was awarded the CNN Heroes Award in 2010 in Los Angeles. In 2014, she received the Acharya Tulsi Kartritva Puraskar from the Akhil Bhartiya Terapanth Mahila Mandal. In 2017, she was conferred India’s fourth-highest civilian honor, the Padma Shri, by President Pranab Mukherjee. She went on to receive the G.O.D. Award in 2018 and the 21st Upendra Nath Brahma Soldier of Humanity Award in 2024. 

Her achievements include rescuing more than 12,000 girls from brothels and providing ART before it was available through the government of Nepal. Through Maiti Nepal, she has created safe spaces and opportunities for empowerment and education for thousands of women who have survived violence and exploitation. 

Thanks to her advocacy, the Government of Nepal officially recognized Anti-Trafficking Day, observed annually on 5 September. 

Anuradha Koirala also made history as the first woman Governor of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal and served as the only woman member of the government’s peace negotiation team during talks with the Maoist insurgents.