Child Right Violation and Trafficking haunting North-East India

Assam has emerged as the trafficking hub of the country, with 1494 cases, the state accounts for 22% of the total reported cases of trafficking across India says a report released by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) 2015. This shows rampant growth in child abuse and child Rights violation cases in Northeast India.

The state also has the highest number of child trafficking (1317) cases, which account for 38% of the national figure. However, this data can be regarded as only the tip of the iceberg.  In the recent years, the police have made several arrests in relation to human trafficking cases.

Frequent disasters both natural and human made, unemployment, distressed migration and Human Trafficking, Child rights violation, Conflicts etc. are the fast-emerging issues in the North-East Region. Among the states of North east, Assam, Manipur, Mizoram and Arunachal have hotspots of Human Trafficking and are often in the limelight.

According to a report from Assam’s Crime Investigation Department, released during a seminar in October, at least 4,754 children in Assam have gone missing since 2012, of whom 2,753 are girls. Child labour and sexual exploitation are the major factors  for Child trafficking. The report said that in the past year alone, at least 129 girls were forced into prostitution by traffickers.

Caritas India during recent flood carried out assessment and post disaster monitoring wherein found that flood has caused distressed migration of family members for livelihood and children are being lured by trafficking agents. The closure of Tea garden is another reason making the region fertile for Child labour and trafficking.

A consultation was organised by Caritas India on Sept 27, 2017 at Guwahati with selected partners from Assam working in Silchar, Tezpur, Dibrugarh, Arunachal Pradesh and Guwahati along with IMPULSE from Meghalaya to understand the issues and plan for pilot intervention in Assam and Arunachal.

Based shared their hands-on experiences and information gathered through other network organisations, on the issue. Caritas India and partners identified ‘children Illiteracy’, Child Trafficking for labour & sexual exploitation and distressed migration of young boys and girls as prioritized issues for potential intervention.