Ramche is a rural area of about 5,000 people in the mountains of the Sindhupalchok district in central-eastern Nepal. It's about a 90-minute walk uphill from the nearest town, Barabise, which lies on the main road between Kathmandu and Tibet.

There is no road to the village, and only minimal electricity and running water. Most of the residents earn a living as subsistence farmers, growing wheat, maize and millet.

About half the people in the village are Tamang, one of the smallest indigenous ethnic minorities in Nepal, constituting about four percent of the population. Changemakers, a nongovernmental organization serving the area, reports that Tamang account for half of the Nepali women forced into South Asia's sex trade.

As an ethnic minority, Tamang are the victims of discrimination. The 10-year Maoist civil war led to an increase in human rights violations against members of indigenous nationalities like the Tamang as well as the untouchable caste, the Dalits. They have been targets for both state authorities and Maoists, according to The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The U.S. State Department has said about Nepal:

"Trafficking in women and child labor remain serious problems.
  Discrimination against women and lower castes is prevalent."