The Impact of Covid-19 in Nepal is seen now when the Indo-Nepal border which was seized for the last eight months is open and a large number of women and young girls are crossing the border to travel to Indian Metropolitan cities and other countries in search of work. A fresh case of rescue was reported by Caritas India Partner DEHAT continuously in the last two weeks where two young girls were saved from the clutches of brokers due to prompt action of the Caritas India DEHAT team.

Since the border is opened after the Pandemic restriction, more cases of human trafficking are suspected every day and seeing the magnitude of this problem Caritas India Partners are working with an alert. Weekly meetings are conducted with the Stakeholders like Police & border forces, Patrolling is done at the unguarded borders and interception is done for the suspected victims.

Purvanchal Gramin Seva Samiti recently called a meeting of core group members of Indo-Nepal border Sonauli which is one of the major Transition points & PGSS is operating the booth to intercept the suspected travellers. These Core group members are the first responders at the border from Sashastra Seema Bal, Police & local NGOs who are available 24×7 at the border transition point to control any unwanted movement and activity. This meeting was headed by the SHO of Sonauli Police Station Shri Swatantra Kumar who had a deep concern to curb Human Trafficking at that border. He Reviewed the previous week cases to know the suspected movement status for smart planning. Several discussions were held in the meeting such as the counselling of suspected victims is very important to go into the depth of the case.

As children are also seen crossing the border & wandering at the nearby area, awareness in schools is also required to sensitize the children who are easily trapped by the Traffickers, Awareness creation is also required in the border villages where the chances of Human Trafficking can be high, good coordination is also needed among all Stakeholders so that once the victim is rescued the repatriation & rehabilitation can be done smoothly without any hindrance. Another concern is regarding the registration of an FIR once the perpetrator is held from the rescue point, in that case, the perpetrator is handover to Nepal Police a proper follow up is needed for knowing the case update for Prosecution against the perpetrator. The meeting was attended by UP Police, SSB, Nepal Police, CWPO, Health & ICDS staff & NGO representatives like Plan India, Childline team, PGSS & MSS & Maiti Nepal and KIN Nepal.

A joint collaboration for this meeting is an indicator that the efforts taken under the Swaraksha Anti-Human Trafficking (AHT) Program with different stakeholders are taken seriously to address the Indo-Nepal Human Trafficking issue. All border Transition points under AHT Program are under proper vigilance and surveillance by the booth staff, Police and border forces of both countries. DEHAT team at the interception booth at Rupaidiha border Transition point rescued the suspected victim a girl of 17 years at a local bus stand after the information received from the unknown informers that the girl from Nepal has been eloped and taken by some young men & are travelling to Delhi. The girl was rescued at the bus stand in India & the accused was handover to Nepal Police. The girl was sent to the Peace Rehabilitation centre in Nepal for counselling and further action. These Continuous actions from Partners will somehow bring fear in the Perpetrators and maybe they will avoid using the main borders to transit to India, but the joint Patrolling of SSB & Police with partners team at unguarded borders will also help in intercepting & stopping suspected cases of Human trafficking.