Trafficking of Children

The title of this blog post is "Trafficking of Children." It seeks to give the readers a thorough grasp of the problem of human trafficking, with a focus on child trafficking in particular. Additionally, it aims to give readers a broad overview of the causes of child trafficking and aid them in comprehending the rationale behind it in India. The curriculum also aims to provide a fundamental grasp of the Indian systems for preventing child trafficking.

Content

Introduction
Magnitude of the Problem
Causative Factors
The Purpose of Child Trafficking in India
A Closer Look at Human Trafficking in India
Efforts to Control Child Trafficking
Strategies to Combat Child Trafficking

Introduction

Sale and purchase of children for gain, within the country (intra-country) and across boarders (intercountry), by deceit, fraud, or force, resulting in exploitation of the person trafficked is understood as trafficking. Trafficking consists of all acts involved in the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring and receiving of children for the purpose of placing such children in situations of abuse and exploitation. The most comprehensive definition of trafficking is the one adopted by the UN Office of Drugs and Crime in 2000, known as the “UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, 2000” under the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC). This Convention, also known as the ‘Trafficking Protocol’ has been signed by the government of India. The international community accepted the ‘Trafficking Convention’, which was approved by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1949. The Convention calls on states parties to punish traffickers and to protect all persons against such abuse. It also calls on member states to "make suitable provisions for [trafficking victims] temporary care and maintenance", to repatriate trafficked persons and where such persons cannot pay the cost of repatriation, to bear the cost (Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons, Article 19).

Article 3 a) of this convention says “Trafficking in persons shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or of receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another persons, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs” (Khan). The ‘Trafficking Protocol’ adopted in the year 2000, has brought a wide spread consensus on the definition of trafficking at the global level. Child Trafficking is an inhumane offence perpetuated against defenceless and innocent children.

A report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime states that children make up one in every three victims of human trafficking globally, with many of them being subjected to forced labor or sexual exploitation. Since 2010, there has been an overall five percent increase in child trafficking, with girls and women making up 70% of all victims globally. In places like Africa and the Middle East, children alone account for almost 60% of casualties. Children, women, and men are never safe from human trafficking anywhere in the world. The global statistics on trafficking were just the top of the iceberg. Children are also compelled to fight or engage in minor crimes, while women and girls are frequently trafficked for sexual exploitation and forced labor. Despite efforts to prevent trafficking, there is still a severe issue with impunity and few prosecutions. In around 15% of the 128 countries examined for the research, there was not a single conviction recorded.

Human trafficking has existed for ages and was particularly prosperous during the Slave Trade era. With billions of dollars in annual revenue, it is currently regarded as organized crime's third-largest source of earnings, after the sale of illegal drugs and weapons. Human trafficking is now seen as a significant violation of human rights, children's rights, labor rights, and above all, basic fundamental freedoms, thanks to the expansion of both national and international legal systems. The perpetrators view it as extremely lucrative and increasingly worthwhile because helpless women and children may be "sold" multiple times with the least amount of money outlay and danger. The permeable borders of the majority of developing nations, the development of technology, the effects of globalization and liberalization—which have resulted in a disconnection from the sources of livelihood for ordinary people—the marginalization and hopelessness of rural people, the feminization of poverty, and the presence of an insensitive political and legal system—have all made it easier and worse for child trafficking to grow. Despite the fact that the issue has spread globally, the pathways for trafficking appear to change in response to local political and legal circumstances or supply and demand variables.

Magnitude of the Problem

India is a country of origin (source), transit, and destination for human trafficking. From nearby nations like Bangladesh and Nepal to India, as well as frequently to the Middle East, the Gulf States, and Europe, women and children are trafficked. Commercial sexual exploitation (CSE), as well as various types of labor exploitation, as well as other goals including organ transplant and forced marriage, are the main reasons why trafficking occurs. 90 percent of India's sex trafficking, according to a US Department of State assessment from 2006, occurs within the country. Around 2.17 percent of forced migrants in India are from Bangladesh, and 2.6 percent are from Nepal, all of whom are victims of trafficking from nearby nations.

Comprehensive statistical information on child trafficking in all of its manifestations and goals is not yet accessible. Since there is no "single-law" to handle the problem, the majority of occurrences go unreported. As a result, there are insufficient and dispersed data on child trafficking. Regarding human trafficking, there are no accurate predictions or figures. Few facts are disclosed, making it difficult to gather data on the problem. These variables include the clandestine nature of the activities, the clientele's desire for anonymity, the low visibility of exploitation, the victims' fear of the authorities and of their exploiters. The majority of research studies are based on case studies or empirical research on small-scale studies because empirical data is challenging to get.

More than 12,000, and possibly as many as 50,000, women and children are brought into the nation each year for the sex trade, according to women's rights organizations and NGOs. According to various estimates, between 5,000 and 7,000 Nepali girls and several thousand Bangladeshi girls are annually smuggled out of the nation, mostly to India. Of the estimated 200,000 Nepalese prostitutes in India, it is thought that 20% (or 40,000) are youngsters. Girls as young as seven years old are transported from impoverished areas of Nepal and Bangladesh to Mumbai, Calcutta, and Delhi's major prostitution hubs. Half of the sex workers in Mumbai, who make up an estimated 90% of the total, are from Nepal. India is an important transit and source nation. NGOs in the area estimate that every year, between 6,000 and 10,000 girls are trafficked from Bangladesh and Nepal into Indian brothels. In Indian brothels, 27,000 women and children from Bangladesh have been forced into prostitution.

According to the Global March Against Child Labor's report on "The Worst Forms of Child Labor," India has a significant and pervasive problem with child prostitution, with an unconfirmed estimate of 270,000 child prostitutes. The estimated 2.3 million prostitutes in the nation, according to the ILO, include 15% of youngsters. Organized crime mostly governs the traffic. Between 300,000 and 500,000 kids are involved in prostitution. Additionally, every insurgent organization in Manipur uses juvenile troops, including those who are reportedly under the age of 15. The youngest age ever found is 11 years old. The number of juvenile soldiers is thought to be between 6,000 and 7,500, or around 50% of the overall number of members of the organisation. It is also asserted that in order to dispel skepticism against the hard-core activists, there has been a recent tendency of enlisting an increasing number of girls in insurgency groups. According to estimates, there are 900–1,000 girl soldiers, or 6-7 percent of all child soldiers. Approximately 3,000–4,000 (or 9–10 percent) of the troops in the Assam insurgency are female, with the lowest known age being 12 years old. With a strength of 18,000–20,000, the Nagaland insurgents have 50–55 percent of combatants who are under the age of 18.

Causative Factors

A thorough examination of numerous reports on trafficking revealed that the main causes of young girls' and women's trafficking are poverty, illiteracy, lack of access to schools and education, a lack of opportunities for vocational training and employment, the prevalence of long-standing evil customs like child marriages, and the low status of women and girls in society.

Many women and children have been forced or drawn to move, even at the risk of being trafficked, because there are simply not enough economic prospects in their native villages and small towns and because of the appeal of fake urban glitter. Most of India's underdeveloped districts have active trafficking communities. Some of them pose as employees of placement agencies or labor companies. They employ dishonest and deceptive methods. False promises about lucrative employment and career prospects are made to entice the gullible victims into companies, houses, and building projects. This practice is known as "voluntary migration with deception." Such dubious operations receive a boost from family debt. Children being abducted for human trafficking is another common occurrence. It has been noted that organized groups of traffickers engage in extensive child and young woman trafficking during natural disasters like earthquakes and tsunamis, preying on the helplessness and sorrow of the victims under the guise of aid workers. Once the victims are relocated from their home country, they are completely at the mercy of the well-organized traffickers, who frequently have strong connections to the police and other law enforcement organizations. Women and young girls are frequently persuaded to travel to large cities or other countries in the pursuit of legal employment, where they are offered pitiful wages. Eventually, due to pressure or a lack of other options, poverty compels them to prostitute themselves. Most trafficked girls in India are sold to brothel owners.

Violence is not always an ingredient in child trafficking, as has been often misconceived. In most cases, the victims are seemingly willing to be trafficked, as they are cheated, misinformed, sold by their own parents or relatives or are otherwise persuaded into situations from which they usually cannot escape. Case studies have revealed that all or some of the family members were either instrumental to or at least aware of the trafficking (Menachery, 2009).

According to qualitative assessments based on case studies, the following are some of the traits of trafficked children in India that are frequently observed:

They are illiterate or with very low levels of literacy.
They by and large belong to very poor families, especially from backward areas.
Many of them belong to scheduled castes, schedule tribes, and OBC.
Many of them are victims of natural disasters / calamities.
Some of them are children of those who are displaced due to developmental projects. · Some of them are street children, who ran away from their families.

The Purpose of Child Trafficking in India

Child trafficking is not merely a socio-legal issue; it is a symptom of much deeper multi-dimensional issues in Indian society. An analysis of case studies of child trafficking over a period of time has revealed the following purposes for which children are being trafficked in India:

Child Labour: This includes bonded labour, child domestic work, agricultural labour, construction work, carpet industry, garment industry, fisheries, bangle making, small scale industries, etc.
Illegal Activities: This includes begging, organ trade, drug peddling, smuggling, criminal gangs,
Sexual Exploitation: Including forced prostitution, sex tourism, pornography, etc.
. Entertainment Industry: This includes circus, dance troupes, beer bars, camel jockeying etc.
For Forced Marriage and Adoption. 6. Child Soldiers or Combatants in armed conflicts: In many areas of insurgency and armed conflicts, trafficked children are recruited as child soldiers.

Child Labor: In India, a survey revealed that 90 percent of employing households preferred to hire girls between the ages of 12 and 15 and that 17% of domestic employees were under the age of 15. A survey conducted in Chennai revealed that 25% of children worked as child domestics before becoming eight years old. According to reports, 65 percent of the kids started working between the ages of 9 and 12 years. 428,305 children are being compelled to labor in dangerous sectors. In southern Karnataka, there are 25,000 youngsters working in the footwear industry and about 5,000 working in the silk thread sector. According to "Human Rights Watch," there are 300,000 youngsters employed in the carpet industry, 270,000 of them are slaves. Another 6,000 to 100,000 kids are cutting and polishing diamond chips for the diamond business. Between 8,000 and 50,000 youngsters work in the glassware and bracelet industries (http://www.ecpat.net/eng/ecpat inter/projects/monitoring/online _database/index.asp). Illegal Activities: These cover a range of crimes in which kids are the actual victims. Begging, for which kids are abducted, sold, trafficked, and sometimes even wounded and exploited for begging;
Organ trade; Kidneys are removed from youngsters for the purpose of organ trade; Children are employed as secure conduits for drug smuggling and drug trafficking. Child sacrifice: Numerous instances of child sacrifice have been documented in India, with the victims being youngsters who have been kidnapped or trafficked; Thefts/Crimes: Adult criminals and gangs are using minors to commit these offenses because juveniles are exempt from the scope of the Indian Penal Code for punishments in the event of crimes done by them. The most well-known and obvious kind of trafficking is sexual exploitation. It's thought that kidnapping children often results in child prostitution.
Sex tourism : Goa, Gokarna, Karwar, Kovalam, Puri, and other well-known locations are popular with paedophiles from outside who travel for sex. Since India joined the global market economy, the Indian government's determination to make tourism the second-largest source of foreign exchange earnings has raised demand for youngsters as sex objects, endangering the safety and dignity of children. Devadasi and Jogini cults, which use religiously sanctioned rituals, attract a large number of young women into prostitution each year. From Mumbai and Goa, numerous instances of child pornography rackets have been documented.

Unusual growth of tourism, particularly the emergence of ‘sex tourism’ in recent times, which has reached global dimensions via internet, has fuelled the demand for young girls and boys in the sex industry forcing thousands of innocent children into sexual slavery. Child pornography is another form of sexual exploitation of children which generates demand for child trafficking. There is increasing evidence to suggest that India and other south Asian countries are slowly replacing south East Asia as the venue of choice for foreigners as there are fewer laws against child sexual abuse and children are cheaper to “buy”. It is observed that in India the popular demand for “virgin” girls and boys who are sourced from less accessible and under-developed rural areas have increased manifold in the wake of the spread of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases (Menachery, 2009).

One estimate places the number of minors engaged in prostitution in India at 300,000 and 500,000. (Patkar & Patkar, 2001). In six Indian metropolises, the Central Social Welfare Board (CSWB) conducted a survey in 1991 that found between 70,000 and 100,000 children were victims of commercial sexual exploitation (CSE) (Government of India, 1998).

Between 5,000 and 10,000 Nepalese women and girls are reportedly trafficked to India every year for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation. Another estimation places the number of Nepalese women and girls working in brothels in different Indian cities at anywhere between 40,000 and 200,000. (Kinnu, 1999). The breadth and magnitude of trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation in India are not quantified in exact numbers. The figures provided have a significant degree of disagreement, and it is difficult to determine their veracity. Some locally accepted cultural practices, such as the devadasi system—a Sanskrit term that literally translates to "a slave of God"—in which young girls were "given" to shrines to be purportedly dedicated to God but who later had to deal with sexual exploitation from certain groups in the community—expose women and girls to sexual exploitation and human trafficking (Government of India, 2004). There have also been reports of pedophilia-related travel from several regions of India, including Goa, Odisha, and parts of Kerala.

Adoption: A number of shady adoption organizations sell infants that they have taken from needy parents. There have also been reports of newborn baby thefts from medical wards. Not only is adoption-related trafficking an international issue, but is also a problem within the nation. As fewer children are legally eligible for adoption, there is a growing desire for adoption, which has given rise to various scams.
Marriage (for and through marriage): Child trafficking uses marriage as a ruse. Young girls are taken as brides by the racketeers, who then sell the brides for the flesh trade after holding fictitious marriage ceremonies. Children are also sold into marriage to marry Arabs who would use them as sex slaves. The kidnapping or abduction of women and girls with the aim of forcing them into marriage is another aspect. With over 56% of all abduction and kidnapping incidents conducted for forced marriage, an examination of 2014 NCRB data reveals that forced marriage was the most frequent reason for abduction as well as kidnapping.

A Closer Look at Human Trafficking in India

Through State Crime Report Bureaus and Union Territories, the National Crime Records Bureau of the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs gathers information on trafficking. Data from the NCRB shows the extent of reported cases of trafficking in India and analyzes trends in a number of crimes covered by the Indian Penal Code (IPC), such as the importation of girls, kidnapping and abduction of girls, and offenses covered under the Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act (ITPA). According to NCRB data, there were 5466 cases of "Crime Relating to Human Trafficking" in India overall in 2014. In the lack of a specific statute against trafficking, the NCRB categorizes cases of human trafficking under the following six crime heads.

Buying or disposing any person as a slave (Section 370/370A of IPC),
Importation of Girls from Foreign Country (Section 366-B IPC),
Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956,
Procuration of Minor Girls (Section 366-A IPC),
Buying of Minor Girls for Prostitution (Section 373 IPC) and
Selling of Minors for Prostitution (Section 372 IPC)

West Bengal reported the most human trafficking cases (20%, 1096), followed by Tamil Nadu (509), Karnataka (472), Assam (407), Telangana (398), Bihar (395), AP (365), Maharashtra (360), Haryana (356) and other states/UTs (1108). Less than five instances were reported from J&K, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland, Sikkim, and the Union Territories of Puducherry, D&N Haveli, and Chandigarh. No cases were reported from Tripura, Mizoram, or Lakshadweep (UT).

4,989 people were detained for offenses related to human trafficking in 2014, as opposed to 5,466 instances. Following is a breakdown of the number of criminals apprehended under each of the six crime heads.

Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 = 4250 (85 %)
Procuration of minor girls = 410
Buying of minors for prostitution = 33
Selling of minors for prostitution = 188
Section 370/370A of IPC, & Section 366-B IPC= 108

As a result, the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act was utilized to apprehend more than 85% of criminals, proving that it is the primary statute in India used to combat human trafficking.

Kidnapping and abduction, which are offences under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), are not listed under the heading "Human Trafficking" by the NCRB. But it's well accepted that kidnapping and abduction are intimately tied to human trafficking. For a deeper understanding of the trafficking issue, it will be worthwhile to examine more closely at the frequency of these two crimes. 77,237 cases of general kidnapping (Section 359 IPC) and abduction (Section 362 IPC) were reported in India in 2014, according to NCRB data. The states that had more than 2000 such cases reported in 2014 are listed below along with how many there were in each state. It is obvious that more than a quarter of these cases came from UP and MP.

Uttar Pradesh = 12361 (16 %)
Madhya Pradesh = 7833 (10 %)
Bihar = 6570
West Bengal = 6110
Rajasthan = 5671
Assam = 4823
Maharashtra = 3793
Haryana = 3082
Odisha = 3073
Gujarat = 2722
Chhattisgarh = 2014
All others put together = 19185

Efforts to Control Child Trafficking

The following are the most significant international conventions pertaining to child trafficking that India has ratified:

The Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989.
The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, 2000.
The Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination against Women, (CEDAW) 1979.
The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children.
Declaration on Social and legal principles relating to the Protection and Welfare of Children, with special reference to Foster placement and adoption Nationally and Internationally, 3 December, 1986.
SAARC Convention on Regional Arrangement for the Promotion of Child Welfare, 2002.

According to the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), a child is anyone under the age of 18. Article 2 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child requires States Parties to protect children from all forms of discrimination. Article 34 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child requires States Parties to take all reasonable measures to protect children from sexual exploitation and abuse, including prostitution and pornography (article 35). States parties are required by article 39 to make sure that exploitation victims receive the proper care for their recovery and social reintegration. According to the JJ Act, every child under the age of 18 who requires assistance from the government for their well-being is a "child in need of care and protection." In essence, "children in need of care and protection" are the victims of child trafficking.

Pressure from the national and international levels to stop child trafficking in India has not been successful. The Indian Supreme Court has also instructed the administration to treat the situation seriously. However, there hasn't been much done to connect the surge in child trafficking with the rise in reports of children going missing. A recent Indian government assessment indicates that over 500,000 children have been kidnapped and forced to work in India's cities, creating a crisis of child trafficking in the nation. It appears that there is an increase in child trafficking. Nearly one in three missing youngsters in 2010 went unaccounted for. But one out of every two missing children in 2013 was never found. In 2012, India's National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) reported 65,038 kidnappings. A large number of these were probably trafficked. However, the ability of the official institutions to gauge the scope of child trafficking is constrained, and their projections lag significantly behind those made by researchers and activists. Social workers also say that instances are frequently not taken seriously by law enforcement. Most victims come from dysfunctional families, underprivileged, marginalized areas. Girls disappear at a higher rate than boys, according to official figures. Even a diminishing tendency is evident in the official statistics on prostitution-related trafficking. Because labour trafficking to domestic and commercial sectors is now simpler than sex trafficking, the overall number of cases under the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 declined from 11,242 in 2002 to only 2,563 in 2012. (Ghosh, 2014).

It is horrifying to learn that India does not have a comprehensive law on "human trafficking" that addresses all of its hideous manifestations and intentions. No existing national laws or legal provisions specifically define "human trafficking." The Suppression of Immoral Traffic in Women and Girls Act, 1956, which was renamed the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956, only addresses the organized trafficking of women and girls for the purpose of prostitution. However, the word "trafficking" is not defined and can only be found in the title. Additionally, it does not forbid trafficking for uses other than prostitution (Menachery, 2009).

Strategies to Combat Child Trafficking

Three different tactics are used to combat child trafficking: prevention, rescue, and rehabilitation in the areas of origin, transit, and final destination. In the context of combating trafficking, the reality that families are either wholly or partially responsible for the majority of cases of trafficking acquires enormous significance. In order to address the issue at its root—the family—it is important to empower families, especially women, through a number of initiatives, such as the creation of self-help groups. It would also be helpful to identify the kids who are most at risk for being trafficked and enroll them in the continuing "education for all" (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan) and other social assistance initiatives. Creating a national, community-based communication plan for the prevention of child trafficking is crucial in the context of India. Two critical mechanisms must exist for this to happen. The first is a reliable system for registering kids, and the second is a facility that helps find lost kids. Creating child helplines and missing children websites would help youngsters in need and will act as efficient methods for interception and rescue. The ability to deport/extradite offenders who are involved in such offenses and are wanted in other countries, as well as the ratification of international instruments relating to child trafficking, are also crucial to preventing this contemporary type of "cross-border slavery" (Menachery, 2009).

The 2012 Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act, which was just passed, includes trafficking as a "abetment of offense" in Chapter IV in an effort to enhance legal frameworks. Explanation III of Section 16 of this chapter, which addresses aiding and abetting an offense, states that "whoever employs, harbours, receives or transports a child, by threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or of a position, vulnerability, or the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of any offense under this chapter" (Govt. of India, 2012).

The Union Ministry of Women & Child Development (WCD) is the government agency primarily tasked with addressing the problem of human trafficking. The budget for 2007–2008 included Rs 90 crore for the WCD Ministry's "Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS)," a rights-based strategy on "prevention and protection" methods for kids, giving the government's efforts to fight child abuse a boost. Additionally, the total budget allocation for WCD has been raised to an all-time high of Rs. 5795 crore. In order to safeguard, advance, and defend children's rights in India, the government established the "National Commission for Protection of Child Rights" in March 2007 as a legislative body under the Commissions for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005. (Menachery, 2009).

In order to mainstream and reintegrate the women and children who have been the victims of commercial sexual exploitation in society, the Ministry of Women and Child Development created a National Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking and Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Women and Children in 1998. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has established a specialized Nodal Cell in the MHA for the prevention of trafficking at the Ministry of Women and Child Development's request. The fundamental responsibility of such a cell would be to coordinate, network, and provide feedback to the State Governments and other relevant agencies as well as share data inputs, best practices, innovations, etc. on an ongoing basis to facilitate improved results. Every three months, all of its meetings will be convened to assess the status of anti-trafficking efforts.

For women who are facing challenging circumstances, the MWCD operates Swadhaar Homes, Short Stay Homes, and Shelter Based Homes. These offer assistance to victims of sexual crimes who have been rejected by their families or who do not want to return home for a variety of reasons, as well as to trafficked women and girls who have been rescued or fled from brothels or other locations. The Schemes offer women and children under the age of 18 housing, food, and clothing in addition to counseling, clinical, medical, legal, and other support services, training, economic rehabilitation, and helpline facilities. There are currently around 146 Swadhaar Homes and over 342 Short Stay Homes operating throughout the nation.

The MWCD is implementing three pilot projects, including the following: I Pilot project to prevent the practice of trafficking women and children for commercial sexual exploitation while maintaining traditional values ii) A pilot project to combat the commercial sexual exploitation of women and children in source areas; iii) a pilot project to combat the commercial sexual exploitation of women and children in destination areas. 30 such projects have received approval thus far.

In consultation with NGOs and State Governments, it has been decided to transform these three projects into a comprehensive scheme in light of the positive comments regarding the execution of the pilot projects. Two parts make up the newly proposed scheme: one is for preventive activities to be carried out through awareness-raising activities like peer education, rallies, campaigns, posters, booklets, wallpaper, handbills, street plays, puppet shows, or any other traditional art, as well as through use of radio and local newspapers. The other part focuses on rescuing and rehabilitating those who have been subjected to commercial sexual exploitation, including covering costs for such services as rescue, counseling to help victims recover from psychological trauma, housing, medical attention, legal assistance, witness and victim protection, education and training, networking with various stakeholders, repatriation and restoration, etc.

Many non-profit organizations, some with official support, are tackling the problem of child trafficking. Governmental and civil society collaborations must be further enhanced in order to ensure openness and the much-needed push in the right direction for the measures to have the desired effect.

References

Ghosh, Biswajit, 2014, India’s child trafficking epidemic, 6 March 2014. http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2014/03/06/indias-child-trafficking-epidemic/andCrime. Accessed on 10.8.2015.
Govt. of India, 2012, Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012. Controller of Publications, New Delhi. (http://wcd.nic.in/childact/childprotection31072012.pdf). Accessed on 10.6.2015.
Government of India, 2004, Trafficking of Women and Children in India – Challenges and Responses, Department of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India.
Government of India, 1998, Report of the Committee on Prostitution, Child Prostitutes and Children of Prostitutes and Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking and Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Women and Children, Department of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, p- 4.