Rehabilitation of 360 Trafficked Child Laborers

05 March 2007, Forbesgunge: After entering into the Indian mainland from Nepal through Forbesgunge border, the South Asian March Against Child Trafficking marched through the town of Forbesgunge shouting slogans against child trafficking and slavery. Then, at the Forbesgunge Railway station, a public meeting was held. While the meeting was going on at the station, Vinay Singh, National Secretary, Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) and Neeraj Verma, activist saw a man with 2 boys, who did not look like their guardian. The man was acting suspicious and Mr. Singh and Mr. Verma went to talk to him and the boys. As they talked to the man and the boys, they found that the boys had been sold to work for a meagre amount of Rs. 500 in Kurukshetra in Haryana. On further questioning it was gleaned that although the trafficker said he was taking them to Kurukshetra, the tickets were in fact till Ludhiana in Punjab.

As Mr. Verma engaged the man in question in an argument, Mr. Singh went to alert the Railway Protection Force (RPF). The RPF arrested the trafficker and he was sent to police custody and booked under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code by the activists of BBA. The boys rescued were from Forbesgunge and aged 9 years and 10 years respectively. The boys have been handed over to their parents.

Further as a direct impact of the South Asian March Against Child Trafficking, on 4 March, 16 trafficked girls and boys were rescued from Siliguri. These children from Bihar were trafficked to Siliguri and from Siliguri were on route to the commercial centres of Kolkata and Mumbai. The children were rescued by the police. The police recognised the role of the South Asian March Against Child Trafficking in generating awareness for the tip-off that lead to the rescue of these children.

04 March 2007, Biratnagar, 10.00 am: Holi is one of the biggest festivals in both India and Nepal and obviously the children started playing Holi early in the morning. The celebrations continued amongst songs and dancing till 11.00 A.M. when the marchers were invited to play Holi by the Biratnagar Chief Development Officer Mr. Modraj Dotel, the administrative and judicial head of the district.

After traditional putting of colour, the local organizations Mahila Adhikar Sushasan Shantiko Laagi, Rajbanshi Samaj Vikas Samiti, ABC Nepal, CPC Nepal, Maiti Nepal, Jagaran Nepal, Nepal Aadiwaasi Janjati Samanvayak Samiti, Viratnagar and others welcomed the marchers. Local children sang welcome songs and initiated a small meeting by shouting slogans. Subol Khanal from CWIN started the meeting by introducing the purpose of the gathering and said that even on Holi we must all remember all the children that are not able to celebrate Holi as they are in slavery. Neera Kumari from BBA urged all the adults to work towards stopping trafficking of children.

Kailash Satyarthi, Chairpeson Global March Against Child Labour recounted the mythological story of Holika and Prahlad and why Holi is celebrated today. He emphasized upon the fight of good vs evil and trafficking and sale of children for slavery, prostitution, organ trade and other illegal trades as the biggest evil being faced by the world today.

The Chief Development Officer pledged his support in the fight against trafficking and thanked all the marchers for coming to his house and making it as one of his most memorable Holi celebration.

The children went back to the Atithi sadan to continue with their celebrations.

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The South Asian March Against Child Trafficking organised by the Bachpan Bachao Andolan in partnership with local NGOs, teachers association, UN agencies, is a 2,500 km physical march across Indo-Nepal-Bangladesh border starting from 25 February 2007 in Kolkata and culminate on 22 March 2007 in New Delhi. There will be about 100 core marchers joined by thousands of supporters along the way everyday for the duration of the March. Child trafficking is one of the worst forms of child labour and its elimination is a non-negotiable. Through the South Asian March Against Child Trafficking we aim to build peoples' movement, mobilise civil society efforts, to hold the authorities and states accountable and responsible, to expedite the enactment and enforcement of legal measures for withdrawal, repatriation and rehabilitation with dignity of the victims of trafficking, and generate political will through the genuine and active participation of child and adult victims of trafficking for forced labour.

For more information on the South Asian March Against Child Trafficking visit: www.globalmarch.org and www.bba.org.in

Links:

• Global March Against Child Labour