A Caravan campaign against children tracking has been planned by the NEDAN Foundation in support of youth groups from western Assam.
The Caravan campaign will be flagged off by Kokrajhar Deputy Commissioner Niranjan Barua at Kokrajhar District Sports’ Association (KDSA) Field on February 4, 2018.
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The campaign will have two vehicles – one Bolero and one Winger – decorated with banners, posters etc. against children tracking linked to missing of children.
Around 22 to 25 campaigners, who will be there in the two vehicles, will spread awareness among the people in several places in Bodoalnd Territorial Areas District (BTAD).
NEDAN Foundation sources informed that the campaign, beginning on February 4, will cover Kajalgaon in Chirang district, then Mushalpur and Barama in Baksa district.
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It will culminate at Udalguri on February 7.
“Other marches will include students from schools and colleges, families and social activists,” sources added.
“It is our efforts to involve every section of the society as a stakeholder in the Caravan,” the NEDAN Foundation stated.
The flag-off ceremony will be attended by a number of dignitaries and social activists from the BTAD region.
The culmination ceremony has been planned to be held in the District Court playground in Udalguri.
“Human trafficking is an age old practice. In early age it was formal and traded human beings in open market termed as slave trade. At present it is done though illegal means,” stated NEDA Foundation.
It also stated that human trafficking is the fastest growing criminal industry in the world that generates an estimated five to seven billion US dollars each year.
“It is a violation of human rights. It also violates the right to health care, liberty and security of person, and the right to freedom from torture, violence, cruelty or humiliating treatment,” the Foundation added.
Child trafficking is an organized crime in which children are apprehended at the source, on the route and at the destination, often to be trafficked or forced into labour or sexual slavery.
It may be mentioned that the brutal killing of several innocent children at Nithari in Noida sparked off nationwide indignation on the abuse to which the victims were subjected and gross violations of their human rights.
“Northeast India has become hot spot of human trafficking because of the diminishing traditional social value, illiteracy and poor economic condition,” the Foundation stated.
“Children and young girls from the Northeast India and particularly from western Assam are taken from their native places to faraway States of India or outside India for bonded labour and for sex trade,” it further stated.
As per the government of India’s 2011 statistics, in every eight minutes a child goes missing in the country while the majority of missing children are girls and most of them are from West Bengal and the Northeastern region.
A study by the UNICEF published in 2015 identified Assam as the country’s second highest trafficking zone in the country.
It also mentioned the BTAD districts of Kokrajhar, Baksa, Udalguri and Chirang as well as Sonitpur, Dhemaji, Lakhimpur and Kamrup as the most vulnerable districts for trafficking.