UNICEF Reports: Girl Trafficking On the Increase

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Colombo, SRI LANKA (September 29, 2004): More than 500,000 women and

children are trafficked out of Nepal and Bangladesh into India and

Pakistan annually, says Dr Sadig Rasheed, Regional Director of UNICEF.

 

Speaking to newsmen ahead of an international conference on child

trafficking on Wednesday, Dr Rasheed said that from Bangladesh,

annually, 300,000 women and children go to India, and 200,000 go to

Pakistan.

 

In addition, anywhere between 100,000 and 200,000 Nepalese women and

girls are employed in the sex industry in India, Dr Rasheed said.

 

While not all the 500,000 trafficked every year are employed as

prostitutes, a considerable number will have become involved in such

exploitation, he added.

 

In an exclusive interview to Hindustan Times, Archana Tamang,

Coordinator of the Regional Alliance Programme of Save the Children in

Kathmandu, Nepal, said that out of an estimated 200,000 Nepalese

prostitutes in India, 40% to 50% were children below 16 years of age.

 

And the 200,000 prostitutes are one per cent of Nepal's population of

28 million people, she noted.

 

The three-day Colombo conference brings together experts from eight

South Asian governments to review the Yokohoma Global Commitment of

2001 in the region, which has become notorious for trafficking in

women and children.

 

According to Dr Rasheed, out of an estimated 1.2 million women and

children trafficked in the world every year, most come from Asia, and

among the Asian regions, South Asia accounts for the bulk.

 

The current conflict in Nepal (due to the Maoist insurgency) is a huge

push factor. On an average, it forces 750 kids to cross the borders of

their native habitats into other areas, both within and outside Nepal,

every day, Tamang said.

 

Parents are forcing their children to leave the conflict areas or the

country itself, to escape being killed or being recruited by the

warring camps. It is a humongous problem.

 

The open border facilitates easy movement to India. Across the border

in India, unscrupulous touts as well as well meaning people, promise

jobs in restaurants, factories and households, mostly in the states

adjoining Nepal. But some go as far as Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune and

Surat, Tamang said.

 

Save the Children is not confining itself to prostitution only.

Trafficking in children included child labour, which was also a huge

problem, Tamang pointed out.

 

Both demand and supply are important for the increase in trafficking.

There is a criminal network spanning the Indo-Nepal border, which

facilitates trafficking because it is a lucrative business, Tamang said.

 

Although there are no statistics about the proportion of the

trafficked kids being driven into prostitution, conditions prevailing

in households and workplaces in the countries of South Asia, lend

themselves to the sexual exploitation of children.

 

Sex with children is a criminal act because there is no genuine

consent from the child's side, Tamang stressed. We are very worried

about this, she added.

 

Child prostitution is now a lucrative international business, which

uses the Internet and the tourism industry as promotional devices.

 

Those concerned about this are interacting with all sections of

society to curb the menace. But the various countries of the world

have a long way to go in terms of commitment to curb the menace.

Funding is also grossly inadequate. The traffickers are always ahead

in terms of technology and resources.

 

SOURCE: Hindustan Times, "500,000 women, kids trafficked from Nepal,

B'desh every year: UNICEF" by PK Balachanddran. Wednesday, September

29, 2004 | Updated: 15:39 IST

 

URL: http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1031566,00050002.htm