Eastern Mirror Desk
Dimapur, Sep. 27: Sensing the need for a strong mechanism to deal with human trafficking and child labour, particularly in the northeastern states, a workshop focusing on human trafficking and HIV and AIDS was conducted on September 27 at the Development of Association Nagaland, 4th Mile, in Dimapur.
The three-day workshop programme was organised by the Nagaland Baptist Church Council’s (NBCC) development wing, the Nagaland Development Outreach (NDO), in collaboration with the Council of Baptist Churches in North East India (CBCNEAI). The programme will conclude on Sep. 28.
Director of the NGO Prodigals Home, K Ela, mentioned the “need to have a clear cut road map to keep our women, and children safe by protecting them from human trafficking and illegal child labour.” She said that law enforcing agencies including police, courts, non-governmental organisations, civil societies, churches, and tribal bodies should coordinate when combating the issues.
“We need to put our efforts together, coordinate, and connect with each other as none of us can fight alone,” she said.
She pointed out that Nagaland was one of the northeastern states that have one of the highest demands for domestic workers. Ignorant youths are being lured to other parts of the country for lucrative jobs but ended up in trouble. She said the state’s demand for child labour, which is illegal, is very high.
The director lamented the “poor governance and poor implementation of laws” by the authority and said: “It (human trafficking and child labour) is a heinous crime and the government should be taking this issues very seriously.” She insisted stringent laws be executed in tackling the issue. If at all, the law enforcing agency is lukewarm in their action against such issues, one can guarantee that the government doesn’t care for the victim, she reasoned.
Peace Secretary for the CBCNEI, advocate Pulotoli N Sumi, highlighted the main aim of the workshop. She said that one cannot deny that Northeast states are turning into a hub of human trafficking in recent years. “The issue is real and is happening within our society, friends, family, and to our brothers and sisters. Yet, we are not aware of what is happening around us,” she remarked.
The council is trying to create awareness on the issue at a grassroots level, particularly to every religious convention in the NE states; Sema said and added that the response from NBCC is more positive comparing to other church councils. “This time around we could see two third of women participating at the workshop, including delegates and resource persons, which, is an attainment to one of our multiple goals,” Sema added.
The Nagaland state’s Police Head Quarter reported a total of 57 cases registered with regard to ‘kidnapping and abduction’ in 2017. The same offence in 2016 report was 93 persons with Dimapur as the highest number of crime committed in both the year.
According to the 2016 report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Ministry of Home Affairs, the total number missing persons in Nagaland is 101, out of which 51 were female and 40 were male. In the same report, the total number of children who went missing is 71, in which 47 were female and 24 were male.
The NCRB 2016 also recorded total of 5,49,008 missing persons and a total of 1,11,569 missing children in the country. It was found that females are more vulnerable than men in terms of missing case. A total of 3,14,674 females out of 2,34,334 males was reported missing by the bureau in 2016.
