Girl trafficking on increase [ 2006-11-18 ]

Girl trafficking on increase [ 2006-11-18 ]

RSS BHADHRAPUR, Nov. 17: There has been further increase in the number of the Nepalese girls being trafficked across various border entry points of Nepal.Earlier, 8,000 Nepalese girls were trafficked across Indian border annually. However, this figure has increased to 12,000 annually over the past few years . This grim was revealed by the Maiti Nepal, a NGO working for the rescue of the trafficked girls at an interaction and discussion held among the chiefs of NGOs, government offices and local people.Statistics of Maiti Nepal shows that thousands of Nepalese girls are undergoing hardships including sexual exploitation in various cities of India .At the programme, Programme Officer of the Maiti Nepal in eastern region informed that the transit home at Kakadbhitta rescued 104 girls who was about to be trafficked into India, intercepted 960 girls who were heading for India, rescued 43 women victimized by domestic violence and rehabilitate 20 sex workers.On the occasion, District Justice of Jhapa, Bimal Dhungel pointed out the need to increase awareness about trafficking at the school level while tightening strict security checks at entry point.Noting that more girls are falling prey to trafficking because of rampant poverty and illiteracy, Chief senior superintendent of police Parbati Thapa said police administration is becoming active towards controlling it.Various speakers also expressed their views on the occasion.

Bars raided, 100 held

Bars raided, 100 held
Express News Service

Mumbai, November 19: A special squad of Zone 12 police conducted raids on 25 bars in the western suburbs and booked over 100 people, including bar managers and women employees under the Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act (PITA). They were held for violating the 9.30 pm deadline set by Mumbai Police which does not permit women to work at bars beyond the time.
“The raids were conducted after we received a tip-off that some women employees were being made to work late into nights, which is a violation of the Mumbai Police Act. We conducted the raids in different parts of the suburbs and arrested the people, 40 of whom are women,” said Shashikant Talegaonkar, police inspector heading the special squad.
The raids were conducted in Dindoshi, Kurar, Samta Nagar, Kasturba Marg, Dahisar and MHB Colony. The police, however, added that none of the women employees were bar dancers.
The police claim they checked on the bars dressed as customers before conducting the large-scale operation. “Some of our men visited the bars as customers and once it was confirmed that the bars were violating the law, we conducted the raids,” said Assistant Police Inspector S J Londhe, who was a part of the team from Ghatkopar police station.
The police added that the bar owners followed a modus-operandi. They claim the women employees would be sent out at 9.30 pm while police patrol teams went on their rounds and checked on the bars. But they would return after the police were gone.
The police also nabbed the customers who were present at the bar at the time of the raid. They were produced in the Bhoiwada court on Sunday and will be in police custody till Monday. The accused will be produced at Vikroli court on Monday.

House of horror for kids

House of horror for kids- From Bengal, enslaved trio can’t recall address
OUR BUREAU

Two of the children rescued from Delhi.

New Delhi, Nov. 20: Bruises on their bodies and trauma on their faces, the three children stare vacantly out of a dimly-lit room in a Faridabad police station. All from Bengal, they don’t remember their exact addresses, except that their village is somewhere in Midnapore.
Rescued on Saturday from the house of a local businessman, Sujata, 6, Santoshi, 8, and Sita, 12, will be shifted to Nari Niketan, a home for women and kids, in nearby Karnal.“The medical report hasn’t come in yet, but there is no doubt that these children were subjected to inhuman behaviour,” Mahipal Singh, the officer investigating the case, said.After being rescued from the businessman’s Indra- prastha Colony home in Faridabad by Shakti Vahini, an NGO, the children were handed over to the local police station.

While Sujata and Santoshi had apparently been kept in the house for “domestic work” for two years, Sita, the oldest among them, had been brought about a year back.“These are the trafficked children from Bengal. The investigation must go beyond the National Capital Region, right up to Bengal, to ascertain how and by whom, these children were trafficked,” said Jagdip Rawat of Shakti Vahini.

The case not only exposes child labour and cruelty, but also involves bonded labour as these children were kept in illegal confinement and forced to work without wages, Rawat said.
In his statement to the police, the businessman claimed he brought the children from a placement agency for domestic help in Delhi. He said he initially paid their wages to the agency, which, he claimed, stopped contacting him later. He didn’t recall its name or address.
Equally unexplained are the bruises on the bodies of the kids.

In his statement, the businessman said the injuries were caused by infighting among them, but the wounds are far too serious to lend credence to his version. The medical report is expected to throw more light.

Meanwhile, Shakti Vahini has alleged that police are showing leniency to the businessman. “The accused has not yet been arrested. Even the sections that have been levelled against him relate only to the juvenile justice act and the IPC. The laws on prevention of child and bonded labour must also be used against him,” said Rawat.

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Regional inter-faith meeting kicks off in the capital

A major regional meeting of inter-faith leaders kicked off in the capital on Monday with the objective of building positive partnerships to combat human trafficking, gender based violence and HIV.

Around 90 participants representing Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and Nepal, are attending the three-day meeting titled “Building Positive Partnerships: Regional Interfaith Leaders’ Meeting and Partners’ Learning/Planning Workshop on Anti-Trafficking, Safe Migration, Gender Based Violence (GBV) and HIV” is organized by the United Nations Fund for Women Development (UNIFEM) Regional Office. The participants include various religious leaders from all over South Asia.

Addressing the meeting, Chandni Joshi, Regional Program Director of UNIFEM South Asia Office, said that since issues concerning human rights and human security have multiple layers, facets, dimensions and accountabilities, the UNIFEM has long realized the importance of working with several stakeholders facilitating networks and alliances. “With this realization, we have felt the significance of faith in the lives of women and men. It has the power to positively shape cultures, identities, mindsets and attitudes,” she said.

Inaugurating the meeting, Minister of State for Women, Children and Social Welfare Urmila Aryal said faith leaders can change society’s traditional belief and attitudes. “They can bring about changes in ill practices such as child marriage and selective abortion,” she added.

Likewise, Sangeeta Thapa, program coordinator of UNIFEM, Nepal office, said the meeting was organized to share six years of work that has brought new partnerships.

nepalnews.com sd Nov 13 06
http://www.nepalnews.com/archive/2006/nov/nov13/news07.php

Flesh trade racket busted, 3 arrested

CHANDIGARH:

15 Nov, 2006 0200hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]

The UT police have busted a flesh trade racket and arrested three persons, including a pimp, on Tuesday.

The accused have been identified as 51-year-old Parminder Kaur alias Pummy, a pimp, 30-year-old Gita and 27-year-old Dolly. Pummy and Dolly are residents of Sector 51 while Gita is a resident of Sector 27.

Sources said that after inspector Jagir Singh received information that a flesh trade racket was active in the southern division, a trap was laid by a special team headed by DSP (East) KIP Singh.

Sources added that a deal was stuck between the decoy customer and Pummy for Rs 8,000. Of the amount, Rs 1,500 was to be given in advance. The trap was laid behind the Nirman theatre, Sector 32, and the trio were arrested on the spot.

Inspector Jagir Singh said that Anuradha Gupta, advocate in Punjab and Haryana High Court and a member of Social Welfare Advisory Committee, was also in the raiding team. Pummy had been involved in the profession for a long time

Press Release

Building Positive Partnerships: Regional Interfaith Leaders’ Meeting and Partners’ Learning/Planning Workshop on Anti-Trafficking, Safe Migration, Gender Based Violence (GBV) and HIV

13-15 November 2006, Kathmandu, Nepal

A South Asia Level Consultation on Building Positive partnerships: Regional Interfaith Leaders Meeting and Partners’ Learning/ Planning Workshop on Anti trafficking, Safe Migration, Gender based Violence (GBV) and HIVwas inaugurated today at Hotel de l Annapurna.

This meeting brings together 90 participants representing Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and Nepal. The participants are from various NGOs, networks, research organizations, media, and representatives of different faith based organizations. Participants from the participating countries will be sharing their journey towards ending gender based violence with particular reference to trafficking, safe migration and HIV/AIDS, which will definitely enrich the deliberations.

Ms Sangeeta Thapa Representative UNIFEM Nepal said that “this meeting is being organized to share our six years of work that has brought in new partnerships, innovative practices, amazing and unique networks, renewed enthusiasm and much more that we are proud of. UNIFEM on one hand would like to share the success stories with all our important partners and on the other hand also find a way forward in the next phase of programming. We anticipate to come up with strategies to work towards eliminating gender based violence focusing on trafficking, and HIV/AIDS, and unsafe migration.”

The Chairperson of the National Inter Religious Priest Forum Maulana Nawajish Ali said that “ we are working to stop trafficking and may god help us in our crusade. The real Muslim is he who does not harm ours in any way. We should be able to help and profit others. People were born to help and serve each other and make a positive change. We are all making efforts to make a positive change. He said that the IRPF was established in Bihar and then Nepal adopted it and then in UP, hastinapur. We are all people and we should have love within ourselves. God sent us to earth for the profit of others.”

Shri Manbendra Mandal of ATSEC South Asia said that “In the past few years we had the south Asian forum of human trafficking, many things have happened. IRPF is one of those activities/movements; where it has done a lot of applaud able work all over India, Nepal, Bangladesh and partly in Pakistan. IRPF is also growing as a regional forum and in a few years it should be in all the countries of south Asia.All the religions should be together in building peace and working against human trafficking is also a way of working against peace. We have the media coalition and the Lawyers forum to fight against HT and give support to victims”

Elaborating on the work done by ATSEC he said that it was born with the mandate to work against cross border trafficking. Then rescue, care and support, psycho social Counselling and family reintegration. A number of things have happened all over the region where they are doing wonderful work.

Shrimati Urmila Anayal ,Honourable Ministr for Women and Child in her Inagural Address said that “I think that when the holy leaders are together, inspite of your different religions…all of the religions, people find peace and I think there is a lesson that there should be repect of human beings. Sometimes religion is used for political purposes. And sometimes we are in conflict but the religions lessons are always for the welfare of humans. There are examples of the caste system but there was never a caste system in the hindu religions this was developed later on for people’s own convenience.

She said that “ Nepal is in a transitional phase, we are on the path to making a new Nepal. The issue of gender equality is very important and these things should be included in the new constitution”

She said that “ I took the gender equality bill to parliament that stated that women don’t have to give back their inheritence after marriage and this was passed without much objection” She said that Nepal is in the process of drafting the New Constitution and said that the new constitution should address religious issues, and gender issues with much importance and should not leave anything out.

The issue of trafficking – we are in the process of drafting the bill of trafficking of women and children which is in the Ministry of law for approval. We should have our bill passed from the parliament in the near future. When all the holy leaders are all here and fight against child marriage then this is a positive change as it will change the mind set of people. This kind of collective regional approach will change things and so let us hope for a society without discriminations and gender imbalance.

Chandini Joshi Regional Director of UNIFEM South Asia said “that in today’s global context where there is so much confusion, stress, violence and abuse of human rights, we development practitioners are often frustrated by seeing some achievements and then regression happening. Our search for peace and a life free of violence for all seems to be a far fetched dream. But meeting like this gives us hope.”This is a unique moment in our history, where we have the leaders from various faiths and religions, media, Civil Society Organizations and stakeholders from across the spectrum gathered together on a common platform for the cause of women’s Human Rights and Human Security.

She said that “UNIFEM has long realized the importance of working with several stakeholders, facilitating networks and alliances as issues concerning human rights and human security have multiple layers, multiple facets, multiple dimensions and multiple accountabilities. With this realization, we have felt the significance of faith in the lives of women and men. The realm of faith reaches the very essence of existence. It has the power to positively shape cultures, identities, mindsets and attitudes. We believe that the reach of the faith fraternity amidst people, especially women, is something that will progressively create the sense of positive personhood thus contributing towards social learning, positive human relations, empathy and mutual awareness.”

On the Role of the Media she said that “the BPFA and CEDAW and regional instruments such as the SAARC Convention on Trafficking- all emphasize the importance of the media. Coming from the position of greater sensitivity, “responsible” media has furthered the progression of substantive equality and sensitivity. The Coalition has encouraged participation at the state level, encompassing reporting and work of print, electronic and alternative media, like theatre. The Coalition covers of all the major mainline print and electronic media – including representatives of a government run channel, as well as the huge involvement of the vernacular press, which has the largest constituency of readership. They have facilitated the rise in levels of awareness about trafficking, gender based violence, HIV, safe migration, existing laws and policies, the inter-linkages between issues, root causes and the unspoken assurance that the media persons are willing and ready to listen and give voice to people’s stories.”

“We have been witness to gross violation of human rights and have, in our capacity, partnered with committed stakeholders to address it. Our first phase of programming involved mutual development of conceptual clarity among UNIFEM and partners; our second phase was about working together and taking forward recommendations of networks like IRPF, National Media Coalition, SAPAT, SAFAHT, ATSEC, CBATN, Paurakhi, NNAGT, Sancharika Samuha, Shakti Samuha, National Legal Colloquium etc”

At the end of the Inagural Session Ms Archana Tamang UNIFEM South Asia Regional Office thanked all the participants for coming to Nepal and wished that in the coming three days the Consultation will discuss issues like Trafficking, gender based violence, HIV, safe migration, existing laws and policies, the inter-linkages between issues and come up with recommendations to take our Journey a Step ahead.

Despite prosperity, literacy, girls’rights die a slow death

Despite prosperity, literacy, girls’rights die a slow death

DYFI meet calls for identifying the contributions of women

Express News Service

Lucknow, November 7: They have come from different states and speak different languages. But when it comes to asking them about the biggest problem being faced by young girls across the country, they reply in unison: “The will to be born and then, get married without dowry.” The young girls from 26 states from the country have come together for the 2nd All India Young Girls Convention, organised by the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI). The convention was inaugurated at the Gandhi Bhawan auditorium by former MP Subhashini Ali on Tuesday.

“Punjab may be one of the most progressive states of the country, but when it comes to talking about girl’s rights, we are far behind. Punjab reports the highest number of female foeticide incidents in the country,’ said Rajinder Kaur, a member from DYFI Firozepur Punjab. Associated with DYFI from the past 7 years, Rajinder says that progress has only added to the woes of the women in the state. “Foeticide is more amidst the educated people, so education may not help much. The need of the hour all over the country is to make these girls, who are born and brought into the world, to fight back and save their unborn sisters. I know that this problem is prevalent in UP too and through this visit, we want to stress on concrete action by looking out for ultrasound centres and urging people not to kill girls.”

For Devi, the joint president of the DYFI Tamil Nadu unit, girls all over the country are hit by several problems the moment they are born. “It is a man’s world out there and men only decide what a girl should eat, wear and study. Let alone that, men also decide whether a girl has to come in this world or not.” Devi says that although problems like foeticide and dowry were not prevalent in southern states like Tamil Nadu a decade ago, but globalisation has brought these problems there too. “We never heard of dowry in our childhood, but today girls are being killed and tortured because of dowry in Tamil Nadu,” said Devi.

Like Devi, P Sajitha, the DYFI Central Executive Committee member from Kerala, too, said that the devil of dowry is eating up a number of girls in a state which had always prattled about its higher sex ratio and matriarchal society. “The pluses of Kerala are now being overtaken by the minuses like the dowry system and increasing number of crime against women,” said Sajitha. She said that during her interaction with her fellowmates from UP, she has realised that girls in UP also face similar problems, and infact, only worse. Other girls like Mafuza Khatun from Andhra Pradesh, Shakuntala Basumalai from Tamil Nadu, B Nirmala from Tripura, Dipti Saha from West Bengal and Renu Singh from Uttar Pradesh too opined similar sentiments.

Addressing the girls at the convention, Subhashini Ali said that it is high time we identify the role of girls and ensure that their issues are brought to the forefront. “Look at these girls who have come here. While those from Tripura and Assam have fought against terrorism in their states, the girls from Punjab are fighting against foeticide and those from UP are fighting against domestic violence. All of them have managed to emerge victorius, which is a big achievement for them. And organisations like DYFI should identify their contributions,” said Ali.

Govt to compensate victims of trafficking

Chetan ChauhanNew Delhi, November 7, 2006,The Hindustan Times

The Ministry of Women and Child Development will compensate victims of human trafficking in an attempt to integrate them into the social mainstream. They will now be on a par with rape victims. Ministry sources said the proposal is an extension of a “pilot scheme” underway in districts where trafficking of women and children is rampant. “We propose to increase the scope of the scheme to the entire country,” a senior ministry official told the Hindustan Times.

Under the scheme, envisaged for the 11th five-year-plan, the Centre will provide funds for the rehabilitation of women rescued from brothels or red-light areas and the state governments will chip in with infrastructure and logistics.Statistics cite that over 1.5 lakh women are traded in India every year and most of them land up in red-light areas or work as semi-labour in industrial cities.

The 2006 Trafficking of Persons report said India has failed to furnish evidence of increasing efforts to address human trafficking. United States has put India under Tier 2 Watch List for the third consecutive year. A ministry official said the scheme would help those who are not accepted by their families when they return. “We have found that many rescued women go back to the brothels as they face harassment back home,” an official said, quoting recent reports.

The ministry also observed that the trafficking network has spread to poor districts and areas hit by natural calamities. For the first-time, each state and Union Territory has appointed nodal officers tasked with the job to co-ordinate efforts to check human trafficking. Four regional cells have also been constituted. “Enforcement of law can only work when the rescued victims get a chance to start life afresh. And, the way is vocational training and a compensation package,” an official explained, adding that the amount will be decided after consulting the Planning Commission.

A study by the Centre of Concern for Child Labour has identified four pockets with high incidence of human trafficking.

Bonded slavery in modern times

Bonded slavery in modern times

RUDRA BISWAS TAKES A LOOK AT THE EVER-GROWING PROBLEM OF MIGRATION AND YOUNG GIRLS BEING TRAFFICKED WITH FALSE PROMISES BY AGENTS

The Telegraph Kolkatta: Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Like every 12-year-old in Tilwari (in Chainpur), her days were divided between some work and more play, till the day “agents” from employment agencies talked her parents into sending her off to “earn” in the city. So little Jasmine Beck (name changed) was packed off to Ranchi with the so-called agents, to what her parents imagined to be a “better life”. Jasmine’s better life comprised hungry and captive days, being branded with hot iron and being inducted into the flesh trade. When she became pregnant, her captors pushed drugs into her, to abort the baby. Once “cleaned”, her “travels” continued as she was sold to a broker, who trafficked her to Bangladesh, Pakistan and finally to Calcutta. Some seven years later, Jasmine, then 19, was rescued and brought to a Ranchi remand home (Asha Kiran) that was set up in 2001 and is run by the Jharkhand Domestic Workers’ Trust (JDWT).

Perhaps a lot has been said and written already. The case for human trafficking (transportation of men and women — adults or minors — as commodities for physical and sexual labour) is a phenomenon that grows by the day. Most of the young people are pushed into the sex trade. (India, like Thailand and Philippines, has 1.3 million children in its sex-trade centres).
And there are many more children, who slave away in the various households across the country.Even a relatively new organisation like the JDWT reports that so far they have been able to rescue more than 270 girls from New Delhi alone. The organisation’s reports also indicate that around 45 per cent of the trafficked girls, who are encouraged to run away from their homes by agents and brokers, or are “officially” taken out with the parents’ consent, are pushed into the flesh trade. Barring one or two occasions, when police help was sought, in most cases, JDWT volunteers, with active cooperation of citizens, carried out “rescue” operations.
Information often comes from relatives, friends, self-help groups and JDWT and the parent organisation National Domestic Workers Trust (NDWT) volunteers. NDWT has a network spread over 22 states in India.

But often being rescued is not good enough, as often it becomes difficult to mainstream such kids (they are kids mostly). Ostracised by the society and sometimes not accepted by their parents, they often are too disturbed to respond to the counselling that they are offered.
At Asha Kiran, Jasmine is a “problem” child. She remains virtually incommunicado and refuses either to attend school like the other girls or to attend the many courses — that includes tailoring and embroidery — run by the authorities.JWDT coordinator Sister Jemma says: “Even when the girls are rescued, they impart little or no information. It is only through intensive counselling sessions that go on for days that we are able to put in place a complete story related to us in bits. The counselling of course, is done by a trained group of professionals and me,” Toppo says.

Asha Kiran was formed by a group of Jesuit sisters. In 2001 Sr. Jemma took over as the coordinator. When it began, the organisation had no remand home to speak of, that is till Sr. Jemma chanced upon a three-storied unfinished structure built by the state welfare department, on the Ursuline School premises. Sr. Jemma unsuccessfully approached the state government to finish the structure, originally meant to be a working-women’s hostel. When that did not work out, Rotary Club of Belgium and Ranchi South along with some worthy citizens rose to the cause. Thus the remand home came into being. Now, the centre successfully runs several programmes for the rescued children that include classes on leadership building and special classes on children’s rights. There are also vocational courses — tailoring and embroidery —held for the kids. The organisation, follows a step-by-step programme of rescue, rehabilitation and mainstreaming (when they are considered capable of an independent life). But the rescued girls at Asha Kiran are yet to reach the age or the maturity, when they may be mainstreamed, as of now.

Increasingly, places like Jharkhand, Orissa and Bihar are becoming breeding grounds for many “agents” who lure young boys and girls outside the state. In case of the girls, deprived of education, property and inheritance or economic options, many of them are often forced into child marriage and are eventually left with no options other than prostitution when they have to earn their own living.In the face of abject poverty and with a strong demand for young girls in the cities’ red-light areas or brothels, young girls or women fall prey to the trafficker first and later to the system that runs the world of flesh trade. It is not that all is lost, when it comes to the cause. Some organisations like the JDWT, has managed to compile a near comprehensive list of several hundred recruiting agents located in Delhi who despatch their agents to the rural areas of Jharkhand to lure young girls . “Worse still, many of the offices have Christian and tribal names,” Toppo said.

But the biggest problem remains the government’s low prioritisation of the particular problem. Though there is occasional help (in terms of rescue and grants), on the whole the Indian administration refuses to talk about the issue that has been under the glare of the international spotlight for years now. Till the time the problem is treated, there will be several such stories. Unfortunately, not everyone of them will have an Asha Kiran to fall back on.

Court flays minor girls’ detention

Madras High Court sets Juvenile Justice Board order
One of detenus has a 30-days-old child and lives with HIV/AIDS


CHENNAI : The Hindu Nov 7 Flaying a Juvenile Justice Board order detaining two minor girls for three years under the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, the Madras High Court set aside the order on Monday saying the order showed non-application of mind. The First Bench, comprising Chief Justice A.P. Shah and Justice K. Chandru, was passing orders on a taken up writ petition, relating to the conditions of Government vigilance and shelter homes in Tamil Nadu.
The two girls, found guilty of “soliciting,” were housed at the Government Vigilance Home in Mylapore, Chennai. Their plight came to light after a visit by S. Vimala, Director of the Tamil Nadu State Judicial Academy. While one of the detenus has a six-month-old child, the other has a one-month-old child and was living with HIV/AIDS.Two service organisations — CHES and Manushya — had informed the court that they would accommodate the victims and take all necessary steps for their treatment, reintegration and rehabilitation. The victims had expressed readiness to undergo rehabilitation training.

G.M. Akbar Ali, Member-Secretary of the Tamil Nadu State Legal Services Authority, had filed a report in the court stating that there was no reason for the detention of the two juveniles, “who cannot be strictly treated as accused under any of the provisions of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act.” The judges also asked Mr. Akbar Ali to take necessary steps to coordinate with the State Legal Service Authority of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra to ensure the repatriation of other inmates who expressed a desire to go home. The Bench also expressed concern at Ms. Vimala’s finding that no steps had been taken by the authorities for the reintegration and rehabilitation of the victims, and that the victims were kept in continued detention “without any inquiry and without any basis.” The judges said: “It is highly deplorable and heart-rending to note that many poverty-stricken children and girls in the prime of youth are taken to flesh market and forcibly pushed into the flesh trade, which is carried out in utter violation of all canons of morality, decency and dignity of humankind.”

Referring to the alarming increase in human trafficking, the Bench said, “the right against exploitation is a fundamental right guaranteed by the Constitution of India under Article 23. Trafficking in human beings and beggar and other similar forms of forced labour are prohibited. Any contravention of this provision shall be punishable in accordance with law.”
The Bench also asked the Member-Secretary of the Tamil Nadu Legal Services Authority and the Director of the Tamil Nadu State Judicial Academy to jointly inspect all vigilance homes/shelter homes/rescue homes in the State and submit a report in two months.
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