Shillong, Sept 23: The issue of human trafficking appears to be unassuming on the surface but a closer look reveals that the menace of human trafficking is a cause for concern.
Justice Mohammad Yaqoob Mir, Chief Justice of Meghalaya High Court and Patron-in-Chief Meghalaya State Legal Services Authority(MSLSA) stated this while delivering the keynote address at the 2nd Regional Consultation on Child Right in the Context of Human Trafficking (sex & bonded labour) in North East India at Yojana Bhavan, Shillong on September 22.
The consultation was organized by International Justice Mission (IJM) & North East for Child Rights under the aegis of the Nagaland State Legal Services Authority (NSLSA) and Meghalaya State Legal Services Authority (MSLSA).
Justice Mir further lamented that lamented the North East has emerged as hub of human trafficking in India, where unemployment, poverty, migration for search of jobs are some of the reasons of human trafficking.
He said Assam has the highest number of trafficking cases in the country with 1494 cases. The state accounts for 22% of the total reported cases of trafficking as per report released by National Crime Records Bureau 2015. He noted that Assam with protracted insurgency problem coupled with recurrent flood, peculiar geographical setting has made it vulnerable to infiltration.
While lauding Mizoram for being the first state in NE to formulate the Victim of Crime Compensation Scheme, Justice Mir however said that in spite of these novel measures, human trafficking is still active in the state.
On Manipur scenario, Justice Mir said the state has emerged as the new source of cross border human trafficking in India and also being used as an easy transit route. Also pointing out that Meghalaya has the largest number of child trafficking after Assam, he said that in the coal mines of Jaintia hills, Meghalaya thousands of children are working in hazardous conditions.
While highlighting these scenarios, Justice Mir said introspection is required to meet the challenge of human trafficking. He said collective responsibility of stakeholders, state legal services authority and police to take care of the rights of the children and save them from being exploited.
Delivering special address, Justice Arup Kumar Goswami, Chief Justice (Acting) Gauhati High Court and Patron-in-Chief, NSLSA said child rights and human trafficking are concepts which are opposite pole as trafficking crushes the rights of a child.
He lamented whether enough has been done to identify the vulnerable sections, and whether data has been analyzed so that the legal services authority can penetrate into the vulnerable areas.
Towards this, he urged the legal services authority and NGOs to isolate the pockets where trafficking is taking place and create general awareness which in turn will perhaps reduce human trafficking to some extent.
The one day consultation was also graced by Justice S.R.Sen, the Executive Chairman of the MSLSA besides resource persons.During the working session, Sunitha Krishnan, General Secretary Prajwala Hyderabad spoke on care and protection of victims of human trafficking, Davis Marak, IPS, Superintendent of Police, East Khasi Hills District spoke on Role of Police in Human Trafficking, Mezivolu T Therieh, NJS Member Secretary NSLSA spoke on role of SALSA in dealing with human trafficking cases in NE and Mahendra Singh M. Sengar presented on status of human trafficking in NE.
Member Secretaries of SLSAs of NE region released Shillong declaration of child right in the context of human trafficking. About 230 members from the eight north east states represented by State Legal Services Authorities, District Legal Services Authorities, Child Welfare Committee, Police Department, CHILDLINE, Social Welfare and students from Shillong law college and NEHU attended the consultation.
