Anti-child trafficking units step up vigil on Nepal border
LUCKNOW: Twelve-year-old Anoop Kumar of Lakshmipur village in eastern Uttar Pradesh’s Maharajganj district is quite busy these days.
Other than creating routine Covid-19 awareness among the rural folks, especially children, he has an additional role to play—keep a watch on child traffickers suspected to be on the prowl amid the Covid-19 crisis that has left many children orphaned.
Lakshmipur, a mere 200 metres from the India-Nepal border, is infamous for human trafficking and Anoop Kumar is an active member of a special anti-child-trafficking-unit (ACTU). ACTU is the initiative of a local NGO (non-government organisation) Manav Sewa Sansthan that is working for the last 32 years against cross- border human trafficking.
Each anti-child trafficking unit has 10 to 14 members, including two to three children. These children also have their own network in the village. The volunteers of Manav Sewa Santha formed these units as they anticipated an increase in child trafficking after Covid-19 caused many children to be orphaned.
They have stepped up their vigil in the last two months.
Team of children
“We are a team of children who work in synchronisation. Our job is to alert the higher-ups in case we come across any new face in the village,” says Anoop Kumar, a class 8 student of
Swami Vivekananda Inter College in Toothibari town of Maharajganj district.
Kumar says they have received training for the task. The volunteers of Manav Sewa Sanstha have trained the children and other members of the anti-child trafficking units.
“On spotting a new child in the village, we first have to interact with the child, ask him or her about their address, Aadhaar card and parents. If we fail to get a convincing reply, or find something suspicious, we will have to alert the higher-ups,” he explains.
Although they haven’t come across any such case after the second wave of the pandemic yet, they are keeping watch on the villages that are infamous for cross-border child trafficking. Lakshmipur is one such village.
Soft targets
“Such situations—be it pandemic, natural disaster or any law and order breakdown, are generally seen as an opportunity by the human traffickers, who become active to fulfil their nefarious designs. At present, when many children are losing their parents to Covid, they can be easy prey for these cross-border human trafficking gangs that are on the prowl. Hence, we have formed village level bodies in all the villages that are infamous for human trafficking,” says Rajesh Mani, director Manav Sewa Sansthan. The NGO was registered in 1988.
Villages vulnerable
Similarly, the NGO has activated the anti-child trafficking bodies in 80 villages spread across the Uttar Pradesh districts of Pilibhit, Lakhimpur, Siddharthnagar and Bahraich that fall on the India-Nepal border, 470 km of which passes through UP. There are broadly eight main transit points— Sonauli and Toothibari in Maharajganj district, Khanua, Bandhni and Kakrawa in Siddharthnagar district, Rupaidhia in Bahraich district, Gauri Phanta in Lakhimpur Kheri and Banbasa in Pilibhit district.
32,700 calls about trafficking, child marriages in 2020
As per the advisory on combating human trafficking during Covid 19 issued by National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in 2020, the ministry of women and child development had altogether received 27 lakh distress calls. Out of this total, as many as 32,700 calls were related to trafficking, child marriages, sexual abuse, emotional abuse forced begging and cybercrimes. It further states that as per the 2019 annual report of NCRB, 2,260 cases of human trafficking were registered in the year 2018. And these cases include a total of 6,616 victims out of which 2,914 were children and 3,702 adults. The advisory issued to the central ministries and the state governments also advised the establishment of 24x7 helpline number and real-time reporting and monitoring of cases related to human trafficking. It also advised installation of special surveillance at railway stations, bus stations, airports and on routes to remote villages.
Similar situation during Nepal earthquake in 2015
Lakshmipur witnessed a similar situation during the Nepal earthquake in 2015. The village is close to Sonauli, one of the India-Nepal transit points of Uttar Pradesh.
“These locals played a very crucial role in 2015 too when they helped in freeing many from the clutches of human trafficking gangs with the help of local police and Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) forces. From Sonauli border alone, around 120 cases of cross- border human trafficking were reported. Hence, we have activated these bodies again to keep a watch,” he added.