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India key transit point in Asia for child trafficking........Sachin Parashar
New Delhi: In its latest report on trafficking, the global child rights group, ECPAT International, has described India as the main transit point for trafficking of children for sexual purposes in South Asia.
The report states that India is being used as a transit country for children trafficked from Nepal and Bangladesh to Pakistan even as it includes India in the list of countries where internal trafficking is more prevalent than cross-border trafficking. The report aims to highlight the increase in child trafficking in countries across the globe and the need to act against it. The report, which comes barely a fortnight after concerns were raised in the Lok Sabha about the rising number of trafficking cases, describes domestic trafficking as alarming in India. It states that the majority of trafficking in underage girls for sexual exploitation happens within the country. “Children are trafficked to and from states such as Andhra, Bihar, Karnataka, UP, Maharashtra, MP, Rajasthan and West Bengal. Of the 23 Andhra districts, 16 are identified as sending districts. Similarly, in Bihar, 24 out of 27 districts are highly affected by trafficking in women and children. Rajasthan is also a major source state, where 27 out of 32 districts are affected,” the report says. It is estimated that between 5,000 and 7,000 Nepalese girls are annually trafficked into India for sexual exploitation. “The open borders between neighbouring countries make it easy for traffickers to infiltrate entry points along Bihar,” it says. “Similarly, it is estimated 2 lakh Bangladeshi children have been trafficked for sexual exploitation through the borders of Bengal and Assam,” it adds.
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