Five children below the age of fifteen were intercepted at the Rupaidiha Indo-Nepal border by the Caritas India’s partner DEHAT. The children were accompanied by an adult which created suspicion to the team at the interception booth. The doubt of human trafficking was confirmed with the ambiguous response from the children.

The case was immediately reported to the border forces considering the safety and security of the Children. The further interrogation revealed that these children were taken to Himachal Pradesh to work in hotels and apple farms with false promises to give handsome salary in return. The person accompanying the children was handed over to the Nepal agency where he was given to the police custody. All the children were sent to the Child Workers in Nepal Concerned Centre (CWIN), an organization working for the Child Rights in Nepal.

After interacting with the Children, the Swaraksha team reported that these children belong to the poor families and were lured to send their children to work outside in return of good salaries. They were being taken to Kullu Manali Apple farms to work as a labourer. Now they are being counselled in the Shelter home. It was informed by Mamta Shrestha, the Counsellor of CWIN Nepal that the parents of these five children were informed about the situation and they realized their mistake of sending their children for work whereas they could be studying. All the children will be restored to the family through the Child helpline Kalili to ensure that these children should be enrolled in the schools and start their education. During the visit in Shelter home, one of the child Rahul (Name Changed) expressed his happiness for being rescued from the trap of traffickers who in terms of less money deteriorate the lives of children and make money for themselves.

Nepal is an important source country for the Indian human trafficking business. Estimates suggest that around 10 children are trafficked from Nepal to India every day. Additionally, the Nepali Human Right Commission (NHRC) predicted that around 1.5 million Nepalese  are currently at risk of being trafficked to India. These individuals are generally forced into exploitative work, including child labour, bonded labour, and sexual slavery.

In Nepal, bonded labour is mostly seen in agriculture but it can also be found in brick kilns, domestic works, embroidery workshops, tea shops, and small restaurants. Child Labor is also particularly rampant in Nepal. The country has an estimated 1.6 million child workers between the ages of five and seventeen years old, who often work in exchange for money to give to their parents.

Approximately, three-quarters of them are younger than 14 years old. With the effect of Pandemic across the Globe, Nepal is also among those countries who are facing the problem of employment. The lack of work opportunities in the country has surged the movement of Nepali Citizen to India for work has started. Though the border is not open completely, the transition of people has started to seek employment in India.

Every day, thousands of citizens from Nepal cross the border and enter India from where they travel across the country. Porous border and unguarded Transit points had eased the movement of those who cross the border for work with the probability of unsafe migration & peril of Human Trafficking. The Presence of Caritas India Partner DEHAT & PGSS at Indo-Nepal border operating through the booth at Transition point under Swaraksha AHT Program are not only acting as a watchdog over the travellers but through this Program immense change is seen among other agencies like border forces & Police deployed at the border to Intercept the suspected movements & enquire the purpose of crossing the border. This kind of alertness among the agencies at the border has created a fear among the Perpetrators & as result, it has minimized the planned movements for Human trafficking.

These Kind of Incidents with Children & Women in Nepal indicates that the scale and persistence of human trafficking emerged from poor screening at the open Indian-Nepalese border. The official mechanisms to address the socio-economic and human rights aspects of the issue are also lacking in both countries. It is, therefore, necessary for both the Nepal and Indian governments to recognize trafficking as a legal, socio-economic, and human rights problem. Acknowledging the multifaceted nature of both the causes and the effects of this issue would in turn allow the states to respond more effectively.

Caritas India with its Partners is addressing the issue of Cross border Human Trafficking from last three years & through the booth operations at three border Transition points several suspected movements were intercepted & enquired and after confirmation of Human Trafficking suspecting they were stopped from going ahead at the border & were send back to Nepal. Though this mechanism to combat Indo-Nepal Human Trafficking is a small step it can bring the giant change if collaborative actions would be taken to address the issue & moreover it is an alarm for the Traffickers to step back from their fatal plan against human life.