Nagaland organizes “District Level Workshop” to combat Child Trafficking in Kohima
KOHIMA | January 8, 2020:
The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) in collaboration with Nagaland State Commission for Protection of Child Rights today organized "District Level Workshop in Combating Child Trafficking" at Kohima.
The one day workshop was organized to combat Child Trafficking in the state of Nagaland for dealing with mainly on cross border trafficking and to address various issues relating to prevention of trafficking, victim identification and repatriation. One of its main purpose of organizing the workshop is to create and spread awareness on Child Trafficking.
Kevithiito Sophie, Senior Superintendent of Police, Kohima in his inaugural speech said that hundreds of children's are indirectly trafficked to Kohima and other districts in Nagaland from rural areas on the pretext of job, education and some family relation with the trafficker/employer and most end up as domestic workers where some are abused and even sexually exploited.
He said that in Nagaland there has been hardly any registered cases of Child trafficking and particular for Kohima District till date no Anti Human Trafficking cases have been registered.
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The SP however raised concern that juveniles who happen to end up in Nagaland from different states are engaged as domestic helpers and at the same time are abused and exploited by their employers.
He added that the actual figures could be higher as many victims are still not registering cases with the police, largely because they do not know the law or feared traffickers.
Sophie during the Technical session and discussion hour said out of the many challenges faced by the Law enforcement agencies some were lack of awareness and training for law enforcement in how to recognize possible Child trafficking situation.
Identifying victims of child trafficking, identifying and securing locations of victims because traffickers often transport victims to different areas. Also, some of the challenges faced in the field by the officers/I.Os of the cases relating to child protection were assistance of an interpreter or translator or an expert in some cases. A special educator for communication for children for special needs. He added, that awareness and training's are key to enabling law enforcement to identify and respond to child trafficking.
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SH.Paresh Shah, Senior Technical Expert- North East Cell & Education-NCPCR said the main objectives of the workshop is to asses the current situation of Child Rights with focus on Child trafficking at the District/State Level.
To review the effectiveness of the provisions of ITPA, JJA, IPC and other laws, exchange of experience amongst the concerned agencies, suggest ways to overcome the problems faced by the various government functionaries involved in rescue and post-rescue work.
To examine the involvement of NGOs, discuss roles, responsibilities and functions of the various stakeholders in Combating Trafficking and to bring all the stakeholders together to come up with recommendations. It is also to assess programs, legislation, judicial interventions at State level, etc, to analyst the dimensions of Child trafficking in the District and to discuss Modus Operandi of traffickers.
