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Child Trafficking & North East India
What 2014 Nobel Laureate Kailash Satyarthi had to say?
Nobel Peace Prize 2014 laureate and well known Child Rights activist Kailash Satyarthi expressed concerns that Assam and other northeastern states of India are quickly becoming the hub of child trafficking to places like Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Mumbai and other metros. While attending a conference in Guwahati on eradication of child labour and child servitude, Satyarthi pointed out Lakhimpur and Kokrajhar districts alongwith the tea gardens of Udalguri, Sonitpur, Bongaigaon and other backward areas of lower Assam as hot spots for well-organized child traffic rackets.
Founder of the Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) and president of Global March Against Child Labour, Satyarthi tried to create awareness by stating that most such trafficking takes place under the pretence of providing work as domestic help. Local people are hired to act as agents who then sell these children to placement agencies in metropolitan cities where they are paid little to nothing.
On conducting a raid at a garment factory in Tamil Nadu, the BBA found that more than half the child labourers belonged to the Northeast particularly Assam. “They were all trafficked and bonded. Last year, 76 such malnourished children who belonged to Assam and Manipur were also rescued. I was personally involved in rescue and repatriation of 16 adolescent Assamese girls who were trapped into bondage in various places in Delhi. They were trafficked through the local agents operating from Shakurpur, Delhi. The most shameful part of the story was that one of these girls was hesitant to go back home because she was pregnant due to repeated rape,” Satyarthi said.
“We demand that the State Government develop a comprehensive strategy and action plan on prevention, enforcement and rehabilitation of child labour and trafficking. The media, civil society, the Government and village institutions should work hand in hand in trafficking-prone areas to educate and empower the local community. Child labourers must be thoroughly identified, rescued and rehabilitated properly. The Government must also ensure free quality, meaningful and child-friendly education not only to ensure full enrollment but also to ascertain the retention of children, particularly girls, in schools”, he added.
Satyarthi suggested that there should be Centrally-sponsored schemes for rehabilitation of trafficking victims, and a special task force should be established to combat trafficking at major railway junctions en-route to the North-East. Besides, CBI and other government agencies should take up the cases of trafficking in Assam on a priority basis to track down missing children effectively.
