Join Us In The Fight

In South Asia, thousands of Nepali and Bangladeshi girls and women, some as young as 9-10 years old, are reportedly sold every year to brothels in Kolkata, Mumbai and Delhi. The Government of Nepal estimates that in 1992, at least 2,00,000 Nepalese women and girls were working as prostitutes in India. In fact, the governments of both of these countries acknowledge the problem. The Bangladesh Government estimates that several thousand women and children have fallen victim to trafficking for work, including prostitution in South Asia and the Middle East. Other reports suggest that the problem exists in Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Child prostitution in Sri Lanka, mostly of boys, is a serious problem. - ILO World of Work No 19, Mar 1997

A global phenomenon

Across the world trading in children is on the increase. According to UN estimates, almost 4 million people every year are procured, sold and purchased, or trafficked into labour, begging or prostitution. Many of these are children as young as 5 or 6 years of age. Amongst the various forms that child trafficking assumes, the most visible and hence the most documented form is trafficking for prostitution.

The need for a campaign in India

Shyamlal Tandi of Bolangir sold his six year old daughter, Hema to a money lender for Rs. 5000 ( Hindustan Times, Feb 2001) Eight-year old Salma, of Bangladesh, was found wandering in a dazed condition by the police on the streets of Kolkata. Placed into a household as a domestic servant, she was raped repeatedly by her employer's son for six months. One day, he threw her out of the house. She is now in a remand home in Liluah. These are not isolated cases. Such stories abound.

The root causes of child trafficking are multiple and complex. There are several factors responsible for child trafficking. Some are cultural and religious, while others can be traced to economic causes, especially in those resulting in the face of liberalisation and globalisation. Sometimes it becomes difficult to distinguish between cause and purpose of trafficking, as is with the case of prostitution, which has religious sanction, such as dedication of young girls to temples practised in various parts of India and Nepal. A deep-rooted social stratification within the Indian society means that children belonging to the underprivileged sections are the most vulnerable. The impact of globalisation and liberalisation is increasing poverty, unemployment and forced migration, disintegration of the family, growing consumerism. Trafficking has become a lucrative business. The growing commodification of women and children makes them vulnerable to being trafficked.

India is a country of both transit and destination. Unlike Sri Lanka, where the Government has come down heavily on paedophilic activity, India is still considered a "soft" state. There is a considerable degree of internal trafficking across state borders as well as cross border trafficking from India to Gulf states and to South East Asia. India is both a supplier as well as a "consumer". The procurement and the sale of these children is undertaken in an organised manner -- by organised syndicates or individuals and sometimes, informal groups including relatives and parents.

Nearly half the children born in India remain unregistered. In many cases, when a child goes missing, the case goes unreported. According to police sources, of the 15000 children that are reported missing every year, only 22 per cent get traced. Some are sold by their families, some get lured with promises of a job or a marriage and quite a few land up in illegal activities like begging, organ trade, smuggling, drugs, sex tourism (including paedophilia).

There have been studies on trafficking, based on available data, newspaper reports and information gleaned through NGO initiatives, but most of them focus on trafficking for the sex industry -- this applies to child trafficking too. Prostitution is a billion-dollar industry in the SAARC countries. At a conservative estimate about 200 girls and women enter prostitution daily and this is only the tip of the iceberg. There is little or non-systematic documentation on the other forms such as labour, organ trading, adoption, illegal marriages or entertainment. Putting numbers to the magnitude of the problem in India is an impossible task as there is little reliable quantitative data on the overall problem of child trafficking in India.

In view of the magnitude of the problem and the lack of attention it has received in the past, it has become imperative that an organised process is started to address it.

The Campaign is a dynamic and ongoing process.

The Campaign has one goal -- Stop Child Trafficking. It is a part of the International Campaign Against Child Trafficking (ICaCT), supported by the tdh Federation in Geneva and its other European chapters. The Indian counterpart is initiated by tdh (Germany) for a period of three years with the aim of catalysing support and help from other agencies in the long run.

The ultimate vision is to prevent the worldwide trafficking in children and the objective is to have "international recognition of child trafficking as a crime and establishment of a participative child protection system in countries where tdh partners exist. The International Campaign is being conducted in five regions namely South East Asia, India, South and West Africa and South America.

The Campaign in India will be led on by a Campaign Secretariat (in this case HAQ: Centre for Child Rights, New Delhi) with active participation from other organisations and agencies. It will be taken forward in all the regions and countries with the active participation and support from NGOs, NGO coalitions, networks of organisations, government agencies, educational institutes, regional organisation, UN bodies, media and members from different walks of civil society.

The Objectives of the Campaign

Create and strengthen a database on child trafficking in India through state/regional level activities. Build regional specific strategies; so as to incorporate the multitude of existing relevant cultural specificities. Sensitize appropriate target groups (decision-makers, media, multiplicators and general public) and thereby ensure implementation of international conventions on the topic of child trade, initiating national legislative processes and aiding its conversion into enforceable law. Develop a national strategy framework for combating child trafficking in India using three broad dimensions for addressing the problem through -- legal interventions, awareness generation and projects at grass-roots level.

The Campaign demands

The campaign believes that child trade is never for the well-being of the children. All the other parties involved are assured of high returns with a low investment. Organised child trafficking is blatantly inconsistent with the fundamental charters on human rights and contradicts the international conventions in force, particularly the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Though India has ratified the Convention, it has to do much more to ensure every child in the country the right to life, survival, development, protection and participation.

In order to ensure that children are effectively protected from becoming objects of child trafficking, the campaign demands:

Stringent punishment of all offenders. Establish an office of a Special Representative of the Secretary General For Trafficking in Persons jointly with the United Nations office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and other relevant organisations of the UN to ensure adherence to the Conventions. Ensure best possible protection for the victims. Enable efficient prosecution of the offenders through bilateral and multilateral agreements and conventions concluded between the sending countries, transit countries and the receiver countries. Harmonise diverse national legislations and legal precedents. Guarantee legal security to children and minors who are endangered or affected by child trafficking in order to ensure that they are provided extensive protection.

This includes the following:

Not treating victims as offenders and hence not holding them responsible for offenses that are directly related to trafficking. Ensuring that affected individuals are provided with the extensive protection that is guaranteed to a witness. n Protecting the victims from potential imminent deportation. Ensuring that the affected individuals are granted adequate legal aid during pending proceedings and also a reasonable compensation for the injustice they have suffered. Ensure that children are rescued with utmost efficiency. Send them into the safe custody of homes run by Government and NGOs. The Government should ensure that there are adequate homes and evaluate the existing ones regularly. Provide adequate medical and trauma care facilities and ensure their right to education. Create effective mechanisms for recording and monitoring child trafficking cases. Ensure that the concerned Governments establish effective mechanisms at the regional level to deal with cross-border trafficking. Create a database on child trafficking to be able to develop strategies to combat it. At the national level, Government reporting offices should undertake this. On the international level, INTERPOL may be requested to record corresponding data. Ensure wide media coverage of child trafficking incidents and increase media sensitivity to protect the victims of highlighted cases from further victimisation. Ensure adequate attention to the problem by the policy makers and politicians. Conduct political dialogues on the issue with active community participation. Serious, effective and continuous efforts by SAARC countries to end trafficking in children.