As the Indo-Nepal border is opened after a long-term closure due to pandemic the transition of people across the border is seen rising and many are travelling to India in search of work or Jobs. This could be dismay for the entire nations that covid-19 has not only taken lives of people but also displaced several workers from their workplace & origin. Human Trafficking in Nepal is a growing criminal industry. Being the source country Nepal must come up with a concrete action plan to curb Human Trafficking of young girls, women and children which is increased in post-covid-19 time. Not only major Transition Points between India & Nepal are used by the victims of Trafficking in Persons, but also unguarded borders of this area are taken by the perpetrator for hassle-free transition.

Seeing the increased number of transitions in post covid time Nepal NGOs & Govt. Stakeholders are taking heed to talk on the cross border human Trafficking issue. Nepal counterpart Indian NGOs and Govt. agencies are also considering Human Trafficking as a serious matter of concern. In this regard, two urgent meetings were called by Nepal likeminded NGOs hosted by the ATWIN group in Bhairanwa Nepal at Sonauli border and another meeting was called by Plan International with Unesco club Banke to talk with duty bearers of Nepalgunj Province and Counterpart NGOs on joint actions to address the cross border Human Trafficking. Caritas India representative and its Partners Organization PGSS & DEHAT are actively involved in all kinds of meetings & discussions with cross border Human Trafficking Agenda.

This week Purvanchal Gramin Sewa Samiti attended the meeting at Bhairanwa District in Nepal adjacent to Sonauli Nautanwa block at Maharajganj District. This meeting was hosted by Good Shepherd Sister Nepal & their partner OVN. AATWIN Nepal a group of NGOs working against trafficking in Nepal was also a part of this meeting from India PGSS, MSS & Plan India team members attended the meeting and shared valuable suggestions on cross border Human trafficking issue.

The objective of the meeting was to create a good convergence among Indo-Nepal NGOs and work as a Network against Human Trafficking. The meeting was attended by Taskila Nicholas (Country representative of Good Shepherd International Foundation Nepal), Mrs. Sita Powdwal (President AATWIN), Mr. Ratan Qazi (consultant AATWIN), Sister Sicilia (executive director OVN), who all did the dialogue on Cross border Human Trafficking issue for jointly working towards formalizing the SOP and MOU among both the countries to control human trafficking.

Further, the Participants focused to set up an illustration for counterpart Govt. from India & Nepal so that an SOP can be developed & formulated in accordance with all stakeholders even from the Gram Panchayat level of bordering villages. After community, the dialogue can be further taken to District level after which at the State level in Uttar Pradesh & Lumbini Province in Nepal. The discussion also held on referring to INDO-Bangladesh SOP for understanding the technical aspects of it. Partners can start to work on the SOP draft before they sit in the next meeting & Regula meetings & follow up is needed to develop a strong collaboration for joint action. Besides this PGSS also joined the Special Juvenile Police unit along with AHTU Police & SSB to focus on cross-border trafficking especially children of both countries.

Caritas India representative also attended the cross-border meeting at Nepalgunj organized by Plan international & Banke Unesco Club with the Duty Bearer of State Province Govt. representatives.

Some of the key discussion held in the meeting was focused on taking action through the cross-border network through

• Developing a good rapport among NGOS & Stakeholders in India & Nepal.
• Creating a good Convergence to work collectively on the draft on Challenges and Gaps at the cross border during Interception, rescue & Repatriation.
• Way forward the Indo-Nepal bilateral Dialogue plan for the talking on MUO and SOP among both countries.
• Finalizing the MOU or SOP through Technical support among both the countries and Tabled for Interministerial meeting.
• Preparing directory of the service provider in both countries. DEHAT team member and Banke UNESCO Club team member will be the focal person to work on this directory.
• Organizing cross border meetings monthly basis virtually or physically.
• Nepal NGOs should focus on the Prevention component & involved largely in creating awareness and sensitizing communities on the effects of Human Trafficking and unsafe migration.

Caritas India representative shared the update on the cross-border interventions during the last four years at major Transition points of the Indo-Nepal Border. He said that in the last four years of implementation we are trying to create a platform in India for the bilateral dialogue between Indo-Nepal Govt. agencies who can respond to the policy review for cross border trafficking. He assured that Caritas India will facilitate the

• process of Dialogue in India to share the Gaps & Challenges while addressing the cross-border HT issue and during the Interministerial dialogue, joint SOP and MOU can be suggested which the Govt. can formulate after its technical review.
• Mapping of the Organization working on HT in Nepal & India for drafting the Gaps & Challenges.
• Frequent Virtual meetings to draft the Gaps & challenges at the Indo-Neal border while addressing the HT issue.
• Focus on better coordination among the Stakeholders for effective actions & advocacy.
• Nepal NGOs suggested focusing on the Prevention component which will curb human Trafficking easily at Nepal as it is the source country.

Duty Bearers from Nepal women cell, women and child development office, Inspector civil police, Assistant Superintendent of Police Banke and other NGO representative from Shakti Samuha, Tiny hands, Maiti Nepal, Plan Nepal and different media also spoked on controlling the Indo-Nepal Human Trafficking through convergence, from India Caritas India & its partners DEHAT & DSWS also attended the meeting.