N-CAT

Nepal´s returned HIV positive women face sad plight

2008-02-16T13:43:00.000+05:30

By Surya B. Prasai
February 15, 2008

In dusty Raxaul south of Kathmandu, on a pale, cold winter´s morning the plight of a young Nepali woman being trafficked to India for the commercial sex sector is just beginning to unfurl. Sarswoti, from Dhading district bordering Nepal´s capital, Kathamndu, has been brought here promised of a lucrative job by Tirtha Ram a middleman, who actually is her first cousin. He has lured her with promises of posh South Extension flat in New Delhi´s well to do neighborhood, and many of Sarswoti's friends and cousins have left for India earlier attracted by such promises. Tirtha´s narrated story to her parents is all too believable for Sarswoti, whose life all depends on her parent´s wishes as in most parts of Nepal where a woman has little individual rights particularly if she is uneducated. Tirtha has told them that that the Indian owner for whom Sarswati is going to work is in the Gulf region, she is going to be paid Rs. 3000 (US%5) for every month she has served. Sarswoti will get free accommodation, food, and be able to roam freely on weekends to go and watch the movies in the big eye catching Indian cosmopolitan city of New Delhi with new friends she will soon make once there. It is only when Sarswoti travels further south down the narrow dusty bus lane and reaches Gorakhpur she suddenly realizes that things are not as Tirtha Ram had promised. Tirtha has already left the day before making a clever alibi that he has to go and make a phone call to his wife in Nepal. Soon an unknown woman enters the small little dingy room she has been kept in. The woman tells Sarswoti that she is pretty, young, very fair and good looking. She is going to adopt her as her daughter; Tirtha has already gone back to the Indo-Nepalese border to get another group of women across to Gorakhpur.

At first this Indian ´guardian´ mother of Nepalese descent drugs Sarswoti and locks her up in a room for three days without food and only a sip of water. When Sarswoti protests, she starts cursing her, and soon physically punishing her. In a week´s time, Sarswoti is gang raped, intimidated with cigarettes, burning charcoal heaped on her arms and thighs, left hungry with bruises all over her body, with no one to complain to, in total misery and no one to help her out. Meanwhile her parents in Dhading seem all too happy with Tirtha for giving them Rs. 18,000 equivalent, or roughly US $280 for Sarswoti as a salary advancement.

From Nepal, anywhere between 10,000 to 15,000 women have been trafficked this way to India to serve as commercial sex workers in like manner. The major conduits are the infamous Makwanpur alley, Birtamod in the Eastern Region and Nepalgunj in the Far Western region. The Nepali girls and young women aged between 12-29 years old are sold through Nepalese and Indian commercial sex agents finally ending up in the sex outlets in bigger Indian cities such as Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore and Kolkata involving nearly three to four middlemen like Tirtha Ram.

Most girls who are impoverished in poverty until the ages of 12-16 years are booked in advance by their parents for as little as US $200 to the agents, the prettier girls fetch between US $300-400 according to reports from independent Nepalese survey on child and women trafficking and organizations such as Asia Foundation and Human Rights Watch Asia which have stepped in the forefront of trying to stop the crime.

Usually, the girls are transported in a group of 10-15 across the porous border to the various Indian cities. This is happening every day as Ind0-Nepalese border is a porous one and has been serving child traffickers for nearly one a half decades now with few interruptions. Also, in the absence of a strong government in Kathmandu, due to the failing policies of the seven party coalitions that rules Nepal at present; even the gravest crime goes unpunished.

For more than a decade, some of Nepal´s top legal experts have been drawing the UN and the world´s attention to the child trafficking issue occurring between India and Nepal. Well known Nepalese legal eagles such as Dr. Shanta Thapaliya, Shambu Thapa (former Chairman of Nepal Bar Association), and Sapana Pradhan Malla who all are child rights advocates, Believe the Constitution of Nepal has guaranteed the right of equality to women including property and self-development rights, but offers very little practicing equality. Mr. Gauri Pradhan who has been running CWIM for more than three decades in Kathmandu, dedicated to Child Welfare and education of street children also is in agreement that child rights has been perhaps forgotten as core area of understanding in Nepalese human rights practice.

The Nepalese Constitution has also accorded childhood freedoms to every Nepali girl child since Nepal was one of the first countries to sign the Convention on the Rights of him Child, 1990, but the real achievement in realizing child rights in Nepal is next to nil, despite the claims of various international agencies. The truth, according to the Harvard educated Dr. Thapaliya. In a recent anti trafficking report appears to be that in Nepal women have long been discriminated upon when they are known to contribute to nearly 60% of the country´s Gross Development Product. The government has simply been turning a blind eye to the issue of women trafficking and child prostitution. Thus many legal voices in Nepal and also many powerful NGO leaders in India are now jointly trying to coordinate efforts and draw on the ethical argument that children should be given all the time until age 16 to enjoy their childhood freedoms, while the traffickers should be punished severely with imprisonment, not only meager fines.

Nepal, which had faced an internal civil conflict between 1986-2006, has seen a big stream of its children, particularly in Western Nepal, facing commercial exploitation through middle men in being transported to brothels in various Indian cities. Not only have these young girls ended up in Indian circuses and households as bonded servants, many have ended up working as life long commercial sex workers. Some graduate in a decade or two to become brothel owners themselves, employing between 7 to a dozen young Nepalese females in each commercial sex venue.

In 2007, various Indian and Nepalese estimates put the total number of Nepalese commercial sex workers in India at around 200,000 to 300,000, though this is considered a low estimate. Nearly half of the women in Mumbai, who ply commercial sex work totaling 120,000, are estimated to be Nepalese, a cording to various ILO estimates. The women are not only subjugated to various forms of torture, gang rape and different sexual acts, they face the risk of contracting HIV/AIDS openly.

According to recent available posted on BBC, HIV infection may have increased by more than 100 percent among Nepalese women and by 200 percent among children in the past 18 months. This has also been substantiated by several NGO officials working to bring relief to the Nepalese women in Mumbai and Bangalore. Nearly 18% of the customers also happen to be migrant Nepalese workers in India close to the cities who visit the brothels on weekends. The Nepalese government´s National Center for AIDS/STI Control publishes figures regularly on the number of HIV/AIDS case occurring in Nepal. But these figures are considered diminutive based on the actual number infected, particularly those forced to return to Nepal from Mumbai, New Delhi and Kolkata after contracting HIV/AIDS. For instance, the Nepal Government released figures that nearly 2200 housewives were infected with HIV in 2007, but the figure could be more as there is stigma and discrimination attached to revealing one´s HIV status in Nepalese society and this does not include the HIV/AIDS infected women who have been returned from Indian brothels. This is a serious problem that is also not reflected accurately in the various sentinel surveys on cross border sex trafficking between Nepal and India. The Nepalese government states that the number of children infected with HIV reached 428 from 138 in 2005, but the actual reality is, more than 2,500 known infections are recorded in various hospitals and clinics throughout Nepal in the same period.

The alarming fact is that among the Nepali women trafficked to India and forced into the sex trade, nearly 40 percent of them were HIV positive by the time they were repatriated, US researchers have verified. Human Rights Watch has published an explicit report outlining the plight of Nepalese women who have been trafficked to India and exploited for commercial sex work there and abroad. The main cause of this inhuman crime seems to be the impoverishment of Nepalese women which forces their parents to marry them off to middle agents or else to sell them off for the remaining families´ survival at an early age.

Another finding coming from a small study of 287 Nepalese women who found their way home after years of sex slavery in India's brothels, underscored the challenge facing public health authorities as they battled to contain India's HIV epidemic and prevent it from spreading throughout the region. Nearly 90% of them were infected with HIV, far more than the 40% figure guess estimated by various international media channels! According to Jay Silverman, Associate Professor of Society, Human Development, and Health at Harvard School of Public Health speaking to the BBC recently, "The high rates of HIV we have documented support concerns that sex trafficking may be a significant factor in both maintaining the HIV epidemic in India and in the expansion of this epidemic to its lower-prevalence neighbors."

India already has 2.3 million people living with HIV/AIDS, more than any other country in the world except South Africa and Nigeria, and is also a major hub for sex workers from across the region, such as Nepal and Bangladesh. Lacking formal employment, the tide of poor Nepalese women willing to provide these services seems to go unchecked.

Currently Nepal is rehabilitating itself after an 11 year old civil conflict that left nearly 13,600 people dead. However with the current national infection numbers hovering anywhere between 80,000 to 120,000 more than 17,000 are expected to die each year throughout the coming decade due to HIV/AIDS related infections. Nepal earlier had traditionally very low rates of HIV/AIDS infection at less than 300 per 100,000 but now it cannot be sure it will remain the same for the rest of this decade. Many returning commercial sex workers sent back from various Indian cities in turn marry back into their villages, whether projected government figures are accurate or belie the truth. Many of the women are also giving birth to HIV infected children and continue engaging in commercial sex work in Kathmandu, Biratnagar, Janakpur, Pokhra, Nepalgunj, Bhairawa and Birtamod among major townships.

Both the World Bank and UNAIDS officials have warned that the cross-border sex trade presents a potential public health threat to Nepal, although there has been very little data or action to show what's happening on the ground. This all paints a highly disturbing picture of young women and girls being forcibly introduced to commercial sex work outside of Nepal with high rate of HIV infections, and many dying of AIDS.

It is important for donors and international non profit institutions working in Nepal and helping the Nepalese overcome the post-conflict rehabilitation efforts to understand the depth of this problem. An increase of HIV infections burdens not only society, but develops astronomic health expenditure in their care and support, something a poor country like Nepal cannot afford. Thus, trafficking of women and children to India and South Asia from Nepal has fuelled in a very dangerous HIV/AIDS prevalence scenario throughout the South Asian continent, where the women infected with HIV have to bear a sad plight of being left untended and uncared for.

USAID has pointed out that poverty is still the fundamental problem that underlies all trafficking in Nepal. Due to the prevailing poverty, most Nepalese girls are illiterate and easily lured by the tiny attractions of work, higher salaries, easy life, and promises of a foreign job. This is now beginning to take its toll on the Nepalese women´s lives eventually having to face the threat of carrying HIV infections in working in India. This creates a larger problem of HIV spreading more rapidly through Nepalese society, where efforts at HIV/AIDS impact mitigation show a lack of concrete national planning and realization on the need to do something more urgently.

In fact, both the governments of India and Nepal have strong legal guarantees against the trafficking of women and young girls and even consider it a heinous crime. Both governments have signed most of the international statutes that deal with halting global trafficking of human beings particularly the UN, ILO and other abiding international treaties. Both governments recognize that this form of trafficking is slavery and serfdom, in short, another form of forced labor as during the Second World War. International donors have even put conditions on Nepal, since it is a party to various international legal instruments to put in concrete efforts to halt the trafficking of Nepalese women and young children in promises of more aid and assistance, but it is the scrupulous middlemen and not government that is the main problem here. It is nevertheless a moral obligation of the Nepal Government to adopt all necessary and effective measures to stop these cross-border activities.

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/52517

Outsourcing Babies

2008-02-16T13:38:00.001+05:30

Outsourcing babies!
Deccan Herald / Feb 16,2008

There is a growing demand for Indian surrogate babies from foreigners but there is a lack of a legal framework to deal with surrogacy, paving the way for unscrupulous middlemen who push uneducated and poor women into surrogate motherhood, says Neeta Lal

After years of trying and treatment, US-based couple Jason and Nancy are finally proud parents of a healthy baby girl. And their tiny bundle of joy, Tara, was delivered for them by Ashaben through a surrogacy arrangement at Kaival Hospital in Gujarat. An Israeli gay couple experienced similar joy when, at Mumbai's Hiranandani Hospital last September, they 'fathered' twins through a surrogacy programme.

Noted fertility expert Dr Indira Hinduja describes surrogacy as one of the well-accepted methods of assisted reproduction that benefits patients who can't conceive or carry a pregnancy to term. Of late, there has been a growing demand for Indian surrogate babies from foreigners, infertile couples in India and even single mothers — making the country a preferred destination for such a service. As per the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) estimates, due to the upward spiral in the number of surrogacy cases, the reproductive sector in India is expected to rake in a whopping US $ six billion this year.

"After IT services," opines Dr Nisha Kathuria, a Delhi-based gynaecologist/obstetrician, "it's now the turn of babies to be outsourced from India. In these times of globalisation and market-driven economies, there's considerable demand for this service."

Low medical costs

Indeed. And fuelling the demand is a slew of factors, including low medical costs and a competent workforce. According to Dr Anoop Gupta, Medical Director, Delhi IVF and Fertility Research Centre, the total cost of renting a womb in India works out to around US$10,000 as compared to about US$50,000 in the West. In the US, states the expert, surrogate mothers are typically paid US$15,000, while the agencies claim another US$30,000. In India, however, fertility clinics charge in the realm of US$2,000 to US$3,000 for the procedure, whereas a surrogate is paid anything between US$3,000 and US$6,000 — a fortune in a country where the average annual per capita income is US$500.

But, despite the demand, surrogacy has its share of critics in India due to the moral, legal and ethical debate that swirls around it. Opines lawyer/activist Preeti Katyar, "If surrogacy becomes an avenue by which women in richer countries choose poorer women in our country to bear their babies, then it is economic exploitation, a kind of biological colonisation."

A factor that has contributed to the negative feeling is the lack of a definitive legal framework to deal with surrogacy and related issues. While commercial surrogacy is banned in many countries — including Italy, Australia, Spain and China — and permitted with restrictions in the US, France and Germany, the Indian government is yet to formulate any laws. In fact, the only guidelines, which regulate surrogacy — and the clinics that provide ART (Assisted Reproductive Techniques) — are the ones framed by the ICMR and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in 2005. But these, point out experts, are nebulous and patient and doctor-unfriendly. For instance, Section 3.10 of the ICMR guideline states, "No relative or person known to the couple may act as a surrogate." This, experts believe, is ludicrous as it propels childless couples needlessly towards commercial surrogacy. In fact, in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) experts say that in 90 per cent of the surrogacy cases in India, the mother is related to the childless couple while only in five per cent cases, the surrogacy is altruistic and in the remaining five per cent, commercial. So, infertile couples are forced to think twice before going in for it due to the costs involved, which is unfortunate as India is home to 14 per cent of the world's estimated 80 million infertile couples.

Legal ambiguity

Then there is ambiguity about a surrogate mother's rights. Delhi-based lawyer Rita Row says, "The guidelines are skewed and thoughtless. There's very little to protect the interests of the surrogate mothers." The guidelines state that "a surrogate should be younger than 45 years" without mentioning the minimum age. So does that mean an 18-year-old, or someone even younger, can become a surrogate mother?

Also, what happens after the baby is born? "The biggest problem," explains Dr Gupta, "arises after the baby's birth. Foreigners are unable to get legal assistance when it comes to taking the child back home." According to the ICMR guidelines, a child born through surrogacy "must be adopted by the genetic (biological) parents unless they can establish through genetic (DNA) fingerprinting that the child is theirs." Ergo, the only option left open to them is to ‘adopt’ the baby — which is a very lengthy and cumbersome process in India.

Dangerous

The regulations don't provide legal protection to Indian parents, either. The only legal recognition of the child's parentage is the birth certificate, and it's only the birth mother's name that can be used for this purpose. Consequently, if the birth mother decides not to hand over the baby after birth, there's nothing the intending parents or the doctor can do about it.

Unsurprisingly, with such ambiguous regulations in place, surrogacy in India has become a dangerous playing field for unscrupulous middlemen who entice and push uneducated and poor women into surrogate motherhood. This practice also encourages the misuse of a surrogate child for terrorism, prostitution or unethical genetic engineering research.

India can take a few pointers from the US, which has strict regulations in place — the law there mandates that surrogate agreements be meticulously drawn out to delineate the responsibilities of intending parents as well as the surrogate. "But in India," says Dr Kathuria, "surrogacy has a high potential for abuse as the monetary stakes are high." Admits Dr Raman Prakash, a Mumbai-based psychologist who also counsels commissioning parents and surrogate mothers, "When anything is influenced by economics, there's invariably a dark side to it."

No awareness

Experts believe that the basic problem is that people are not well informed about surrogacy and its related issues. For example, a surrogate's health is not given due priority. Fertility doctors are allowed to implant up to six embryos in a donor's womb — in other countries it's limited to three — which creates the risk of multiple pregnancies and can lead to severe complications, stillbirth or even the surrogate's death.

In many cases, the surrogacy option is used even when it is not necessary. "Sometimes patients have had repeated IVF failures or recurrent miscarriages," says Dr Kathuria. "Usually, a simple egg donation is enough rather than a more complicated surrogacy option."

Doctors agree that a mass awareness campaign is key to making the treatment more accessible to all. Many sensitive, surrogacy-related issues too, need to be tackled. As Dr Asha Jaipuria, a social activist and NGO worker puts it, "Who ensures that the woman's unused eggs or embryos are not harvested/stored and then sold to couples who want fair-skinned children? Or to couples who don't have viable eggs/sperms?"

Moreover, some questions need urgent answers, such as: what happens if the surrogate dies during childbirth, is there due compensation for her motherless children in that case; and what about the postpartum psychological and emotional support for poor women surrogates?

There's also the issue of money. As the treatment is expensive, there should be a regular audit to oversee the funds distribution to the surrogates. It's time the government seriously considers enacting a law to regulate surrogacy and related IVF/ART technologies in India to protect and guide couples going in for such an option. Without a foolproof legal framework, patients will invariably be misled and the surrogates exploited.

Women’s Feature Service

Kids Sold as Donors ?

2008-02-16T13:34:00.001+05:30

Kids sold as donors?
Provided by: Sun Media
Written by: TAMARA CHERRY
Feb. 15, 2008

Organ brokers prey on the 'socially marginalized, desperate, disabled or young'

VIENNA, Austria -- Are children being adopted for organ transplants?

MedicalAdoptions.com suggests just that, leaving UN officials wondering whether the so-called adoption agency is a hoax or another unnerving layer to the ever-growing human trafficking industry of organ transplants.

The web site, which surfaced at a discussion yesterday about organ trafficking during the second day of the UN's global forum to fight human trafficking, claims to be a Kentucky-based adoption agency that sells parents the "perfect match ... for the transplant of one or more of 'non-essential' organs to be donated to one of the adopting parents or your own children."
At first glance, the findings are shocking: Children priced according to their category -- platinum, gold, bronze or onyx, with first world children listed as platinum and third-world as onyx.

"Your new child will give of themselves the same love you will give unto them," the web site says.

But upon closer analysis, the phone number given cannot be reached and the address -- the same listed for other companies online -- cannot be located on a map.

"It's not beyond the realm of the possible that you could adopt a child and also use a child as a donor," California-based Nancy Sheper-Hughes, considered a leading expert of organ trafficking, said in an interview.

'BABY MARKETS'

"If you have baby markets, you cannot stop people from exposing those children to harm," the Organs Watch director said. "There could be real instrumental reasons of wanting that child, which could include wanting that child to serve as a donor to an older child."

Organ trafficking most recently came under fire with the arrest of Brampton resident Dr. Amit Kumar last week, who was dubbed "Dr. Horror" for his alleged ties to a massive organ transplant ring uncovered in India.

Authorities alleged up to 500 kidneys were sold to foreign clients over the last nine years, with some victims being forced at gunpoint to give up a kidney.

Though Canada's Human Tissue Donation Act prohibits the purchase, sale "or otherwise deal" of any tissue, body or body part for transplants, said Sheper-Hughes: "Canadians turn out to be big buyers of organs, more than North Americans in the United States."

Despite "serious efforts" by countries to regulate organ transplants and move toward the use of more deceased donors, "the number of illegal transplantations carried out between 2000 and now has increased tremendously," said Nicole Maric of the U.N. Office on Drug and Crime.

"It's fuelled by a growing demand and by unscrupulous traffickers and brokers," Maric said. "While waiting lists for organs in richer countries are becoming longer and longer, it is an irresistible temptation for people selling organs, especially for those living in poverty."

Since Sheper-Hughes began studying organ trafficking 10 years ago, she has been laughed out of bureaucratic gatherings and called a liar by medical professionals for talking about something that was, a decade ago, "largely seen as a rumour," she said.

Studies have shown victims -- often from Eastern Europe, India, South America and South Africa -- are being coerced or forced into selling organs, yet there remains strong resistance to labelling it a serious crime.

"People really say it's life-saving. It's a value to society. It's something that maybe we should regulate rather than prohibit," said Sheper-Hughes.

The World Health Organization estimates organ trafficking accounts for 10% of annual kidney transplants.

"We conservatively estimate that some 15,000 kidneys are trafficked each year," said Sheper-Hughes.

The crime lies in the vulnerability of the victims, experts agree. Most are displaced, socially marginalized, desperate, disabled or young and naive.

"The price on this commodity depends on the value of the population," said Sheper-Hughes.

A kidney "donor" in the U.S. may be promised $35,000, while those in the Philippines are often quoted $1,500 -- if they are paid at all.

"It reproduces all of the racial, ethnic, gender inequities in the world," she said. "It always involves the exploitation of very poor and very desperate people who don't wake up in the morning and say, 'I think I'm going to sell a kidney,' unless someone is there and telling them, 'I've got a way to solve your problems.' "

"Such payment conveys the idea that some persons lack dignity, that they are mere objects to be used by others," Dr. Luc Noel of WHO said, adding there is a need for "unprecedented effort" in maximizing deceased organ donations, rather than utilizing living people.

TOP MAFIOSO

It is a crime that involves everyone from top Mafioso players to respected surgeons, travel agents and independent organ brokers. Like human trafficking for the purposes of forced labour and sexual exploitation, organ trafficking involves networks of perpetrators, corrupt organizations and countless victims who are left stigmatized and ashamed.

"We have to start putting some kind of rationing on organs," Sheper-Hughes said. "It has become a very special case as though one has a right to transplant, a right to organs, an absolute right."

"Nothing makes me more angry than people saying to me, 'I sold an organ because the doctor told me I have one for me and one to sell,'" she said. "Organ sharing among the living should be an exception, not a routine demand." Let's start with the dead. Don't plunge into the bodies of the living."

Where have all the girls gone?

2007-11-11T17:39:00.000+05:30

Namita Kohli, Hindustan Times
Email Author
Haryana/New Delhi, November 10, 2007

Faced with a crisis, even local elections have candidates promising brides in return for votes.

"My kismet brought me here,” says 14-year-old Heena, who’s come to ‘sasural’ in Malabnuhu — a sleepy village in Haryana’s Mewat region — from Kolkata. Originally from Bangladesh, the teenager can only blame destiny now. Last year, after a sum of Rs 6,000 changed hands, the ‘bahu’ found herself in an alien landscape: where Bengali is replaced by Haryanvi, rice by roti — and where cattle costs more than women like her, who are referred to as paros by the locals.

In the prosperous districts of Haryana and Punjab — where son preference has resulted in a skewed sex ratio — girls from economically weaker backgrounds in Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal are being openly bought in droves for ‘marriages’ that are more often than not without the consent of the girl. The legal status of such wedlock, of course, remains questionable. According to data compiled by Shaktivahini, a Faridabad-based NGO that takes up anti-trafficking issues, there are up to 50,000 paros in Haryana alone, including a huge proportion of minors.

Census 2001 shows that the child sex ratio in Haryana and Punjab stands at 820 and 793 per 1,000 boys respectively. But according to the latest health survey by the Punjab government, villages like Sansarwal in Patiala have touched an alarming 438 girls per 1,000 boys.

Ergo, girls are fast turning into a vanishing tribe. A recent United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) report warns that female deficit in the marriageable age (20-49) is set to touch 25 million by the year 2030.

The impact, however, is already being felt here. Says Dr Madhav Mohan Godbole, the director of Balgrah, a rehabilitation centre in Rai, Sonepat, “Villagers come to us and plead for brides. They say if we can’t fix them up, they will be forced to buy girls.” Faced with a crisis, even local elections have candidates promising brides in return for votes. Ram Prasad of Seoti village in Sonepat, concedes, “frequent trips are being made from all over Haryana to hunt for girls in Bengal, Orissa, Jharkhand and even Maharashtra.”

In a typical ‘buying’ scenario, someone with ‘contacts’ in source states facilitates such arrangements in return for kharcha-paani, explains Rishikant of Shativahini. The ‘going rate’ ranges from Rs 6,000 –10,000, depending on the age and virginity. Forced by poverty, many a time the paros also have to ‘accept’ polyandry.

Interestingly, parents of local girls are now spoilt for choice. No one wants a poor or unemployed groom, says Akbar Ahmed of Malabnuhu. Neither are they willing to send their girls to the land of paros.

Post-Marital Blues

Gradually, the cultural impact of these forced marriages is surfacing. Meena, 30, a paro from West Bengal bemoans, “Men here don’t know how to behave. Their language, attitude are very brash.” The women’s movements are kept under ‘close watch’ and they aren’t allowed to visit home for fear that they might escape. “But at least there’s food to eat here, else why would we come so far,” sighs Mamta, a ‘bride’ from Bihar.

Even so, there are ample stories of abuse. Ameena, 13, was sold to a 35-year-old widower Ashok in Seoti, who was desperate for a bride. It didn’t matter even if she was a minor. “Ashok would lock me up in a room, beat me up and sexually abuse me. He wouldn’t let me talk to my mother,” recalls Ameena, who tried to escape a couple of times, before being rescued by Delhi-based NGO Prayas just last month. “He was so much older, and there was a lot of communication problem. So I was just supposed to say yes to whatever he demanded.”

Ameena’s was the first case of trafficking registered in Haryana, as women seldom register complaints due to social pressures. “There’s no complainant, no accused,” laments Sibhash Kaviraj, SP of Mewat. A local police official in Seoti says, “How can we go about breaking homes? Unless villagers inform us of such incidents, our hands are tied… it is their personal matter.” While many like Chandigarh-based Professor Pam Rajput, vice president National Alliance for Women (NAWO), have been advocating frequent compiling of relevant statistics and sensitising both men and women, the administration has clearly, been slow to deal with the issue.

Meanwhile, the chain continues to grow. As the UNFPA report states, it is the poor and landless men who will be most affected by this bridal crisis. Evidently then, 35-year-old Anwari who was, many years ago, married to a man 20 years older than her in Malabnuhu, is worried for her four boys. “They don’t study. Maybe, I will have to buy brides for them also.” Already, across Haryana and Punjab, it’s a common refrain, “Who wants to give girls to poor men like us?” To which, one Ram Dulari of Seoti chides them: “Who will, when you foolish people kill your own girls?”

(Some names have been changed)

Sex selection in India

2007-11-11T17:34:00.000+05:30

ANIRUDH G.R.THE HINDU NOVEMBER 11, 2007

In ‘IT revolution and declining dowry practice’ (Open Page, October 28), Chandra Kommera has drawn an interesting analogy between the two. While it is extremely heartening to note this change in the bargaining power of women, such instances are still few and far between. For many, the birth of a girl child is still unwelcome. The sex ratio of India according to the 2001 census is a dismal 933 females per 1,000 males, up from 927 in 1991. These figures leave muc h to be desired.

A major concern is that economic and educational prosperity has not altered this long-held bias against the girl child. It is still a widely held theory that a male child will carry forward the family line. Another factor going against the girl child is the dowry which her family has to churn out at the time of her marriage.

In many areas, among the prosperous, dowry is viewed as a status symbol. Business families also feel the need for having a male heir. And with the trend of smaller families slowly creeping in, the girl child gets chucked out.

Armed with knowledge and money, access to methods of sex selection including female foeticide is easy. For instance, in relatively prosperous Punjab, the sex ratio is 874 whereas in so-called backward Bihar, it is 921 according to the 2001 census.

The mushrooming of illegal ultrasound clinics all over the country is testimony to the rampant sex-selective abortions.

And increasingly, for fear of being caught, these clinics seem to use symbolism to convey the results. They use blue or pink colour to convey whether the foetus is a boy or a girl. Or they make statements such as ‘Your child resembles a doll’ to convey a female foetus.
Hardly a deterrent

The Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act of 1994 banned sex determination tests. It provides for three years imprisonment for a first-time offender and a fine of Rs 10,000. This is hardly a deterrent given the huge profits the trade offers and the lax judiciary.

The rate of conviction under this law is one of the worst with the first conviction coming as late as 2006. This could be attributed to the difficulty in producing evidence in court and a powerful lobby which has virtually converted sex selection into a profitable trade. Of late, sting operations by women disguised as pregnant women have helped nail a few doctors.

This trend of sex selection is extremely unhealthy and can have disastrous consequences for society. Moreover, a society which denies the girl child even the basic right to existence cannot claim to be civilised. It is time the loopholes in the law were corrected. Strict implementation of the law can be the only deterrent to the practice, given that attitudes take time to change.

Tackling the problem of prostitution

2007-11-11T17:33:00.000+05:30

SUBHASHREE KISHORE,THE HINDU 11 NOVEMBER 2007

Amendment to the Immoral Trafficking (Prevention) Act 1956 is in the making for over two years. Going by the modern standards of performance evaluation, it seems the voting public are getting too little work done by their representatives. The representatives are indecisive on what steps to take.

Prostitution per se is not illegal or criminalised in India but soliciting and trafficking is. The justification for such a dichotomy is as usual safely nestled in age-old beliefs, practices and religion. The law aims to protect the victim without punishing the perpetrators. Prostitution as a means of livelihood is exploitative, repressive and inhuman.

One amendment being heavily debated is whether the client — in effect the demand side — should be punished. Sweden has had some success in bringing down trafficking when it criminalised buying sex. Britain is also considering the move seriously. The argument advanced against this in India is that it would lead to more surreptitiousness and place the victims further at the mercy of police.

Sadly the poorer (weaker) argument is that it would affect livelihood of the sex workers. Does it mean that the government is there only to wring its hands and watch helplessly as people are traded like commodities, forced into a ‘profession’ which can hardly be called that?

Amnesty schemes for tax evaders or defaulters pave the way to legalise their illegal wealth. Why not a scheme to rehabilitate these workers to help them break the vicious cycle of poverty and coercion which condemns them to a life of disease and disrespect?

The entire approach is heavily tilted towards the effect and not the cause. Instead of catering to the ‘vote bank’ minorities, we should address this community which has little voice and a lot to complain about. This is a group which cannot organise itself, burn buses or issue threats to disrupt public life. A realistic solution would be alternative employment and focused provision of basic facilities.

The high profile campaign for the prevention of AIDS can at least in part be diverted to addressing the circumstances which force hapless people into sex trade.

Prostitution is still treated as some ‘foreign’ disease whereas it is, and must be recognised as, a ‘man made’ social evil. The policy and legal framework is to treat it and hardly to root it out. We never find any political leader or public figure taking a stand asking the youth to practise restraint or fidelity. If the ‘supply’ side is too dark and difficult to control, at least the demand can be attacked.

India is blessed with stability and order compared with countries torn by civil war, political instability and the like. It just requires the administration to be committed and interventionist. But given the approach of the establishment which rushes to ban bar dancers rather than bars, maybe it is too much to ask.

We have seen governments steamroll opposition from environmentalists, workers, coalition partners when it comes to economic and political agenda such as SEZs, privatisation or land acquisition but hardly are proactive when it comes to the unfinished social agenda. We have places categorised as ‘red light’ areas beyond the reach of the long arm of the state. Perhaps we can even have areas demarcated for fake currencies, drugs, arms, antiques and so on.

The absence of social anger and condemnation despite having full knowledge of its stigma and consequences remains an enigma. Why do we hesitate to say that, in the first place, it is wrong? Society needs values and they should not be contingent on convenience, laws and individual preference. Larger social interest cannot be held ransom to individual immorality.

The business of social responsibility

2007-11-11T17:31:00.000+05:30

Any voluntary measure from the private sector will be fruitful only when there is a firm legal and policy regime

SANTANU SABHAPANDIT,The Hindu 11November 2007

Recent developments surrounding the operation of India’s largest foreign direct investor in the mineral sector, POSCO, in Orissa are indicative of the extreme conflict situation that exists on the ground. Incidents of violent protests and kidnapping of company officials can be seen as a manifestation of deep distrust and frustration that fills the general psyche of those living in one of the poorest parts of the country, bearing the brunt of development activities th at offer little to their needs.

Breaking the law cannot be justified, but it is indeed doubtful if criminal law alone can take care of a situation that the company is facing today. Clearly, social and economic interests are once again at loggerheads. Here is, however, an opportunity to recognise the finer linkages between business, governance and society.

What are the policy options that we have to respond to such a situation? It must be noted that we need private sector participation in the mining sector and the proposed new mining policy is trying to promote this. Beyond this, there seems to be a reliance on voluntary measures when the High Level Committee recommendations refer to the sustainable development framework, developed by industry association ICMM and the IUCN, in addressing social issues such as environment protection and meeting local needs.

Voluntary measures — e.g. the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) — are gaining ground in corporate strategy discussions or policy considerations in general.

There are a number of studies that show positive business outcomes of such measures, which in turn underwrite their reliability. However, the definition of CSR is still not free from controversy, as any prima facie drift from the profit-maximising objective by the corporations is believed to be unrealistic and seen with suspicion. From industry’s point of view, besides the economic, political or ethical underpinnings, CSR is increasingly becoming a necessary licence to operate within society.

Objectively, a company would be legitimate in carrying out its activities if it has received necessary approvals from the authorities to start operation and as long as it complies with the relevant laws during their operation. Also legitimate is their profit-maximising motive. There is perhaps no legal justification in the expectation that the company should carry out socially beneficial measures beyond what is required by law.

Any such measures undertaken would finally be led by individual business concerns of the company and would remain in the sphere of volunteerism. Yet if a company has to face a situation where it cannot initiate or carry out its ‘legitimate’ operation, it is doubtful whether a concept like CSR would at all be useful.

Voluntary measures cannot replace duties established by law or policy by the government. It is more so when the government needs to recover its credibility in public perception. Even from a responsibility point of view, the government, whether at the State or Central level, has much to undertake.

It cannot be denied that mining operations themselves are to be blamed for the distrust and suspicion that is pervading the general perception. Given that the public sector undertakings account for more than 80 per cent of the total value of mineral production of all minerals excluding atomic minerals, it must own responsibility for the externalities of its production process.

However, undertaking both regulatory and production activities simultaneously, the government subjects itself to a situation where likelihood of violation or dilution of statutory requirements is higher. This can, to a large extent, explain the public sector’s greater responsibility in nurturing the distrust among project-affected people in the mining sector.

The policy options in the hands of the government to address the situation are by and large obvious. Efforts are being made to address concerns of land acquisition and consequent rehabilitation policy for project-affected people. What needs to be emphasised is that such efforts deserve the additional thrust from business considerations that the policy is trying to promote.

What should promote a more proactive stance from the government is the fact that social responsibility is fast becoming a sine qua non for business operations and consequently for private sector investment. And only the government can provide the minimum standards through appropriate policy measures. Any voluntary measure from the private sector would be feasible and fruitful only when there is a firm legal and policy regime that ensures the basic minimum to society.

Tribals no strangers to female foeticide

2007-11-11T17:27:00.000+05:30

With better education, villagers adopt city lifestyles

Where technology is not accessible, quacks are approached

NEW DELHI: Even as education and technology reach the far-off tribal belts of the country, the practice of female foeticide is also fast making inroads there.

Tribal youth are now going to cities or making use of portable ultrasound machines that provide sex determination ‘services’ at a nominal price.

The practice of sex determination and female foeticide was alien to these communities till recently.
Elders’ fear

Now elders in tribal villages fear that urbanisation will hit tribal villages as youngsters will fall prey to this “style” very soon, says a study conducted by the Pune-based Centre for Youth Development and Activities (CYDA), with support from the United Nations Population Fund.

This fear was expressed by villagers of Badi in Rajasthan, who said that as the educational level went up among their youngsters they tended to adopt certain lifestyles followed by city dwellers.

Quoting a social worker intervening in this area, the study says: “It is being increasingly felt that the issue of female foeticide is entering into the village settings dominated by tribals. Although in the programme area where we work there exist no ultrasound labs, our tribal youth are seen indulging in sex selective practices by going to the cities.”

There are also indications that in rural and tribal areas, where the sex determination technology is not locally accessible, people seek the help of quacks and dais (midwives) who prescribe herbs/medicines claiming that these will change the sex of the child.

Quoting another social worker in the area, the CYDA study says, “People also use traditional herbs and other medicine to have a male child or to change the sex of the foetus from female to male.”

Performing districts

India’s 10 best performing districts, where the ratio of girls is higher than boys, are mostly dominated by tribal communities, while the 10 worst performing districts are in Punjab and Haryana.

The best performing districts are South Sikkim, Upper Siang and East Kameng in Arunachal Pradesh; Bastar and Dantewada in Chhattisgarh; Pulwama, Kupwara and Budgam in Jammu and Kashmir; Senapati in Manipur and Mokukchung in Nagaland.

The access to information, means and technology, and the impact of the pro-sex determination perspective of the urban educated economically well-off sections have influenced some migrant populations of rural India also, a chunk of which are tribal. Technology inroads into semi-urban/rural areas have resulted in an increasing number of people there going in for sex selection.

In Maharashtra’s Akluj gram panchayat, a well developed semi-urban area with a population of 40,000, many unqualified people are using portable machines and travelling to interior villages to offer sex determination services on the doorstep for a nominal fee. According to a Tamil Nadu organisation, Rural Rehabilitation Centre, access to technology has led certain communities such as the Kallars in Madurai district, who were traditionally practising female infanticide, to gradually shift to sex determination tests and sex-selective abortions.

Her story: Fourteen girls, yet no son

2007-11-11T17:12:00.000+05:30

Namita Kohli, Hindustan Times
Rohtak (Haryana), November 11, 2007

At 70, Krishna Devi is impassive about life — save a desire for a son, for which she ended up having 14 daughters. Her youngest daughter was born when she was 55, making her one of the ‘oldest mothers’ in the world.

“Yahan toh sab chhora hi chahte hain (Everyone here wants a son),” she says. In Bhalli Anandpur village in Rohtak district, Krishna is ‘famous’ for the sheer size of her all-girls family. “There were no machines (ultrasonography machines) to check, so I kept having girls till I was 55.”

Krishna, who had her first daughter at 15, is in sync with the social fabric of a region where the worth of a family is dictated by a son. In the third National Family Health Survey released recently, 90 per cent of women with two sons said they didn’t want to have any more children, while only 61 per cent with two girl children said they wanted to stop the family.

Unlike Krishna, villagers here resort to sex determination tests clandestinely: “If the doctor writes in red it’s a girl, if blue, it’s a boy.”

Incentives for the girl child don’t work, with only about 5 per cent registering for them. Says Krishna’s husband, Dayanand Lohaar: “I had to take loans for their marriages.” His eldest daughter Satwanti, 55, is a mother of two sons. Ask her if she’d got the ‘test’ done, and her silence says it all.

'Get a truckload of girls for the boys here'

2007-11-11T17:03:00.000+05:30

November 11, 2007
Namita Kohli, Hindustan Times

Just over 100 kms from the Capital, a curious waiting game is on at the nondescript village of Bamla. Men here have gotten used to waiting for a bride — sometimes, for years on end. With at least 70 per cent of the ‘eligible’ bachelors unable to find a girl, it could well be a scene straight out of Manish Jha’s 2003 film Matrubhoomi: A Nation Without Women.

Azad Singh, 40, a shopowner at Bamla, says, “Fot the last ten years, the problem has been acute. Earlier boys here used to get married at 18-20. Now even at 30, many are unable to find a girl.” At least 500 boys are desperately looking. There are even families with four or five unmarried sons. “This is leading to great tension within the village,” adds Singh. With age, the single men become the subject of ridicule amongst friends who have “settled down”.

Curiously, while bride buying is de rigueur all over the state, in this village ‘single’ men are still living in denial. “Get a truckload of girls here and you will see a queue of boys in no time. But we don’t want to badmouth the village. We will try to hide the fault till we can for our honour,” says ex-sarpanch Sudhir Pehelwan. Sudhir says that after the local media reported this trend sometime back, the then sarpanch was forced to take his statement back, due to local pressure.

Ajay Grewal, who’s in his late 20s, has almost given up on getting himself a bride — even though he owns a sizeable portion of land and is a “state-level” wrestling player. Ditto for Sanjay Kumar Grewal, 28, a local farmer.

With a low female population and consequently more ‘single’ males, the fallout has been a rise in sexual violence against women. Says Ram Chander, a schoolteacher from the neighbouring village of Bhalli Anandpur, “Earlier, we could send our women to the fields alone, but now men around can’t be trusted. Rapes and violence are rising due to their desperation. It will take a lot of time for the situation to change.”

While Bamla village takes great pride in its male wrestlers, women here are still supposed to cover their heads and faces completely. “We don’t allow girls to roam freely outside, nor do we send them to work. That’s why you can’t see them around. They stay indoors mostly,” says Pradeep Kumar Grewal, a resident. Women, he says, are a “liability” for the middle class families like him and perhaps, that’s the reason behind the scarcity of brides.

Many like Pradeep have no qualms in accepting that female foeticide is happening on the sly, and that no one registers for government incentives for the girl child. “Schemes don’t work. The procedures to avail the benefits are too tedious. Sex determination is easy. Families decide on their own about their children.”

But with a scarcity of women, how do they intend to have ‘families’? “That’s the way our society is. We can’t really help it,” says father Anil Kumar Grewal.

Focussing on children in need of care and protection

2007-11-07T01:16:00.000+05:30

The handbook is useful for people working in the area of child rights

BANGALORE: There is still a long way to go for all children in India to dream of living a healthy, happy childhood free from abuse and exploitation. The protection and promotion of child rights in India vis-À-vis the juvenile justice system is an issue that needs to be addressed with much seriousness and concern.

“Justice for Children,” – a Handbook on Implementing The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2000 and the Juvenile Justice Care and Protection of Children) Amendment Act 2006, is an attempt to guide the statutory body under the Juvenile justice system, the child welfare committees while dealing with the web of legal maze of procedural and substantive laws.

Representatives of non-governmental organisations got a sneak preview of the handbook co-authored by Nina P. Nayak and Anuradha Saibaba Rajesh at an informal programme here recently. The venture is supported by Child Fund India and Karnataka State Council for Child Welfare.

According to the authors, the handbook focuses on children in need of care and protection, that is, children who are exploited or abused and abandoned. It is largely based on the provisions of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2000 and the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Amendment Act 2006 and the Karnataka Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Rules 2002. The Constitution of India, other laws relating to children and the international human rights instrument, the Convention on the Rights of the Children are also appropriately referred to.

The predominant aim of “Justice for Children” is to serve as a reference tool primarily for the Child Welfare Committee members in Karnataka and functionaries of the Department of Women and Child Development and itself draws from the experiences of the five-member committee here. Additionally as child protection issues gain increasing awareness amongst the public, the handbook can be useful for anyone working in the area of child rights and protection — be it academicians, activists, voluntary organisations, students, childlines and so on.

Disclosing rape victim's identity is punishable

2007-11-07T01:13:00.000+05:30

6 Nov 2007, 0008 hrs IST,Dhananjay Mahapatra,TNN

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has named a rape victim 11 times in a recent judgment, forgetting the self-imposed code put in place through its rulings in 2003 and 2006. Reversing a Rajasthan HC order acquitting a rape accused, the SC ordered the convict to undergo seven years' rigorous imprisonment instead of 10 years awarded by the trial court.

Both the 2003 and 2006 judgments, written on behalf of the benches by Justice Arijit Pasayat, had an identical paragraph exhorting trial courts, HCs and the Supreme Court not to mention names of rape victims in their judgments, given the ignominy they face in a conservative society like India.

Section 228-A of the Indian Penal Code makes disclosure of identity of a victim in sexual assault cases a punishable offence, which deters the media from making public the name of the rape victim.

However, Justice Pasayat recognised that the restriction did not bar the media from publishing names of the victims while publishing the judgments of high courts or the apex court. So, in both the judgments, he had said, "Keeping in view the objective of preventing social victimisation or ostracism of the victim of a sexual offence for which section 228-A has been enacted, it would be appropriate that in the judgments, be it of this court, high courts or lower courts, the name of the victim should not be indicated."

Section 228-A of Indian Penal Code is in sync with laws abroad, such as UK's Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act, 1976 which guarantees anonymity to women who complain of rape. These enactments are meant to encourage rape victims to complain against assaulters without having to facing public glare and the resulting humiliation.

The US, however, is an exception. The Supreme Court there has consistently struck down state laws which prohibit the media from revealing the name of the victim of sexual abuse. However, media organisations there have scrupulously observed a self-imposed code of not publishing the name of the rape victim.

Miles to go

2007-11-07T01:04:00.000+05:30

The third National Family Health Survey has immense significance for policymaking in health, nutrition and gender issues.

FRONTLINE NOVEMBER 3, 2007

The report of the third National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3), released in the second week of October, has immense significance for policymakers in health, nutrition, education and gender issues. The NFHS-3 (2005-06) is significant in that it has gone beyond the parameters set by the two preceding surveys, in 1998-99 and 1992-93. And for the first time, the survey interviewed all women (ever-married and never-married) in the 15-49 age group and all men in the 15-54 age group. In earlier surveys, only ever-married women were chosen for individual interviews. The NFHS-3 sample covered 109,041 households, 124,385 women and 74,369 men in the 29 States. According to G.C. Chaturvedi, Director of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), the findings of the NFHS-3 are an important benchmark for the NRHM.

The NFHS-3 included testing of the adult population in a community-based survey, the first of its kind, to estimate HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) prevalence in the general population. Surprisingly, the figures dipped sharply, forcing the government to revise its national figures.

The NFHS-3 essentially throws light on the state of India’s health, behavioural attitudes, fertility and mortality. In another first, it provides information on perinatal mortality (stillbirths and early infant deaths), male involvement in the use of health and family welfare services, adolescent reproductive health, family life, education, high-risk sexual behaviour and awareness of tuberculosis.

The shocking parts of the report contain implications for the girl child. India continues to be in the stranglehold of a very strong son preference; the presence or absence of a male child in the family dictates family planning. “Many women prefer not to use contraception and to continue childbearing until they have at least one son,” says the report.

The survey drew out responses of women to domestic violence. More than one-third of the women in the 15-49 age group had undergone physical violence; and 9 per cent of the women in the same age group, some form of sexual violence. Only 6 per cent of women were subjected to domestic violence in Himachal Pradesh, but the figure was 40 per cent or more in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh and 56 per cent in Bihar.

As much as 37 per cent of ever-married women had experienced violence at the hands of their spouses and 16 per cent, emotional violence. The survey found that 1 per cent of the women had initiated violence against their husbands; evidently, that was in reaction to violence perpetrated on them earlier.

Slapping was the most common form of violence from husbands; 62 per cent of the women reported physical or sexual violence in the first two years of their marriage. Only one out of four abused women sought help to end the violence. A large majority of them chose to bear it in silence. Alarmingly, the report said that more than half the women in India believed that it was justifiable for a husband to beat his wife. The acceptance of wife-beating was found to be high in Manipur and low in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

The good news in the survey is that women waited longer to marry and fertility was on the decline. As a telling example, a domestic worker based in Delhi said she was married off at 15 in her village in Allahabad, conceived at the age of 16 and bore seven children in 14 years. But she was determined that none of her daughters were going to be married before 22. She got her eldest daughter married at 24 and ensured that at least one of her daughters completed college. Such instances are common in urban centres, particularly the metros.

But the bad news is that more than half the women were getting married off before the minimum age of 18. Urban women waited two years longer than their rural counterparts for marriage; the median age at marriage among urban women aged between 20 and 29 was 18.8 years while that of rural women in the same age group was 16.4 years. This, in turn, had an impact on maternal mortality as well as infant and perinatal mortality.

The survey has other revealing facts. For instance, the fertility rate has come down from 2.9 per woman in the NFHS-2 to 2.7 per woman. However, this is seldom appreciated by policymakers, who often speak of a population boom in the country.

Recently, the Supreme Court suggested that women with more than two children should be excluded from the Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY), or scheme for safe motherhood, which now covers all Below Poverty Line (BPL) mothers. Health Ministry sources told Frontline that they were yet to respond to the suggestion. Initially, the JSY was confined to families with only two children; but when sections among the Left and other health activists pointed out the inherent injustice in the scheme, it was made accessible to all BPL mothers.

Though the fertility rate has come down, replacement levels (two children for two parents) are yet to be reached. The NFHS-3 brings out the fact that the desire to stop childbearing has increased rapidly with the number of living children. Only 3 per cent of women with no living children said they did not want any more children, compared with 83 per cent of women with two children and 90 per cent of women with three children.

The desire to stop childbearing increased with education. The fertility rate decreased sharply by the household’s wealth index as well, from 3.9 children for women living in households in the lowest wealth quintile to 1.8 children for those living in households in the highest wealth quintile. Ninety per cent of women, the survey found, wanted to stop childbearing if both their children were sons, 87 per cent wanted to stop if they had one son and one daughter.

The proportion of women with two daughters and no sons and who wanted no additional children increased from 37 per cent in the NFHS-2 to 61 per cent in the NFHS-3. But this does not indicate that son preference has gone down or that the women themselves are in a position to decide the ideal family size or the number of sons or daughters they would like to have. The motivating reason for wanting a daughter is more religious – fulfilling of the obligation of kanyadaan (giving a daughter away in marriage), which is supposed to enable parents to acquire the highest level of merit or punya.

Knowledge of contraception was found to be almost universal, but more women and men knew about female sterilisation than male sterilisation though the latter is considered to be safer among the terminal methods of contraception. Ninety-three per cent of the men knew about condoms as opposed to 74 per cent of women.

Significantly, even the choice of contraception was influenced by son preference. At 67 per cent, the adoption rate of female sterilisation was the highest among women with two sons. Also, women who had more sons were found to be more likely to be persuaded to go in for contraception. Wealth also influenced contraceptive prevalence; it was almost 68 per cent among women in the highest wealth quintile and 42 per cent in the lowest wealth quintile.

For health activists and women’s organisations who have been crying hoarse regarding informed choices, the survey has dismal news. Only one-third of the women contraceptive users said they were aware of the side effects while only one quarter were informed about what to do in case of any side effects. It was only in Tamil Nadu and Delhi that more than half the women knew what to do in case of side effects.

The survey has also confirmed the worst suspicions of health activists regarding the safety of injectable contraceptives. The NFHS-3 found that among the spacing methods, the discontinuation rates were the highest for injectables (53 per cent), followed by pills and male condoms. For pills, intrauterine devices (IUDs) and injectables, the most common reason for discontinuation were concerns about side effects or health problems.

Another important aspect of the survey relates to child sex ratio, which has dipped since Census 2001. Though the NFHS does not do a head count unlike the Registrar General’s office, its findings regarding the child sex ratio from the sample population are not likely to be very different from the child sex ratio figures that will emerge in the Census 2011.

In the NFHS-3, the sex ratio of the population in the 0-6 age group is 918 girls for every 1,000 boys; this was 927 girls per 1,000 boys according to Census 2001. The under-seven sex ratio in urban areas is the same as in Census 2001, but a decline was seen in rural areas.

On nutritional, maternal and child health indicators, there has not been much improvement. Perinatal mortality, which was explored for the first time, turned out to be rather high at 49 deaths for every 1,000 pregnancies. Such mortality was very high for young mothers and in first pregnancies. It is highest for the rural poor uneducated mother.

While the infant mortality rate (IMR) has gone down from 68 deaths to 57 per 1,000 live births, it is still very high. It is estimated that one in 18 children dies within the first year of birth and more than one in 13 dies before the age of five.

Children of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes are at a greater risk. Even here, there is a gender bias: 79 girls under five die before the fifth birthday compared with 70 boys per 1,000 births. Uttar Pradesh has the highest IMR in the country while Kerala and Goa fall in the category of States with the lowest IMR.

As for maternal health, only 44 per cent of women started antenatal care in the first trimester of pregnancy. The percentage of women getting more than three antenatal visits by the auxiliary nurse midwife (ANM) ranged from 17 per cent in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh to 90 per cent in Kerala, Goa and Tamil Nadu.

The quality of antenatal care is also a major issue. The iron and folic acid coverage for expectant mothers was lower than the national average in Nagaland, Bihar, Arunachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Meghalaya. The percentage of women who received two or more tetanus toxoid injections ranged from 40 per cent in these States to 90 per cent or higher in Delhi, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.

“The thrust of the NRHM is on the mother and child. The southern States are almost on the threshold of replacement level fertility while the northern States have still a long way to go. Our attempt is to get the IMR levels to 30 per 1,000 live births. There is a lot of demand for institutional deliveries but the supply side is weak,” said Chaturvedi. Of the 22,000 sub-centres in Uttar Pradesh, he said, only 7,000 had buildings.

Manpower is another concern. Between 1947 and 1997, there were only 47,000 doctors in Uttar Pradesh, in the private and public sectors taken together. The number of nurses was 30,000 less than what was recommended by the Bhore Committee. Chaturvedi felt that more than money, the motivating factor for the efficient functioning of the accredited social health activist (ASHA) was “recognition”. On the other hand, health activists argue that accredited social health activists need to be given a decent remuneration as most of them hail from poor families, and that there is need for more than just social appreciation.

The findings of the NFHS-3 underscore the need for more convergence among Ministries as it cannot be left to the Health Ministry alone to deal with what is primarily an economic issue. The survey brings out clearly which section of the population is desperately in need of health care. Health issues are not maternal health issues alone. The most commonly reported problem faced by women in terms of accessing health care was the distance to the health facility; 44 per cent of the Scheduled Tribe women reported “distance” to be a major problem.

The percentage of women who have at least one big problem in gaining access to health care declined rapidly with increasing wealth. On the other hand, the dependence on the private health sector continues to be quite high. According to the survey: “The private medical sector remains the primary source of health care for the majority of households in both urban areas (70 per cent) and rural areas (63 per cent) … overall, the private medical sector dominates health care delivery in the country and the use of private doctors and private clinics is the primary source of health care among the rich and poor alike.”

If the “Health for All” declaration, to which India was a signatory nearly 30 years ago at Alma Ata, must have any meaning, it cannot be with the majority of the population depending on the private sector, where health care is affordable to only a few. It cannot also be realisable in a situation of a declining child sex ratio, high IMR and rampant son preference.

Cambodian court charges German man with child sex abuse

2007-11-05T19:43:00.000+05:30

The Associated Press
Published: November 5, 2007

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: A 61-year-old German man was charged Monday with sexually abusing a 14-year-old Cambodian girl, the latest Westerner to be arrested in a growing crackdown on suspected pedophiles in Southeast Asia.

The man, identified as Jopen Reimund Hubert, was charged with debauchery, said Sok Kalyan, a prosecutor at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court. Debauchery is a Cambodian legal term for sexual abuse of children under the age of 16 and is punishable by up to 20 years in jail.

Hubert, of Cologne, Germany, was arrested last Thursday after police raided his Phnom Penh hotel room and found him in bed with the girl, police said.

He will be detained up to six months before his trial begins, the prosecutor said.

In a court appearance Sunday, Hubert covered his face as he was escorted inside, his wrists handcuffed. Reporters were not allowed to ask him questions.

A French child rights group, Action Pour Les Enfants, said it had kept the suspect under surveillance for some time. Investigators for the group saw the man spending time with two teenage girls, including the one who was with him at the time of his arrest, said Samleang Seila, the group's director in Cambodia.

The group said Hubert had given the girls expensive gifts and money in return for sexual relations.

German Embassy officials were not immediately available for comment.

The detention of the German is the latest in a string of arrests of Westerners for alleged child sex offenses in Cambodia.

In March, a court sentenced two German men to 12 and 28 years in prison for sexually abusing two girls, aged 10 and 14.

In April, Walter Muze of Germany was charged with sexually abusing a 13-year-old Cambodian girl. Last month, a Russian businessman was charged with debauchery for allegedly having sex with six girls. Both are in detention awaiting trial.

Thailand has also made several recent arrests of suspected pedophiles.

Police bust flourishing flesh trade in Gujarat

2007-11-05T19:40:00.000+05:30

Gujarat Global News Network, Ahmedabad

Crime branch has swooped down on a gang, which forced young girls including minors into the flesh trade. The girls from the poverty stricken families from outside Gujarat were lured jobs and brought here.

The racket came to light when a 13-year-old girl tried to run away from the clutches of a couple which had bought her for Rs.30,000 and were using her as a prostitute. The girl was saved by three youth who drew the attention of social activist Shabnam Hashmi of Anhad. She took up the matter with the police and as a result crime branch was swung into operation.

The girl told newsmen that she was from Bengal and was brought here for a job in a drama company. She said that she was kept in a house in Viratnagar area of the city where many such girls lived. Then she was sent with one Vijay who lived with his wife and children in Chandlodiya.

Once Vijay raped her in the absence of his wife and then took her to Mehsana and left her in a hotel on highway. The girl was kept there for 10 days and everyday two to three people raped her. From there Vijay took her to Vadodara and kept her there for a week where she had to suffer the same ordeal.

She was brought back to Ahmedabad by Vijay and kept in his house. One evening when Vijay was not around she managed to run from the house.

On the basis of her information police raided all the places and arrested seven people including two women.

For news in Hindi see our Hindi daily Chaupal Chronicle

23 girls rescued from red-light district

2007-11-05T19:37:00.000+05:30

30 Oct 2007, 0126 hrs IST,Bhuvaneshwar Prasad,TNN

PURNIA: In a major crackdown on the red-light area at Lakhanjhari alongside the NH-31 in the twin cities of Gulabbagh and Purnia, 23 girls, were rescued by the police on Monday morning. These 23 girls had either been trafficked or lured into the flesh trade rampant in the border areas.

Purnia SP Sudhanshu Kumar said that these girls were in the age group of 15 to 35. They had been trafficked from places like Saharsa, Kishanganj and Supaul and were lured or forced into the flesh trade. He said the girls who were immediately taken into police custody are being interrogated at Sadar Police Station to assess how they were pushed into this most heinous trade. "This interrogation is quite important and will facilitate the police in extending its arms and arresting pimps and traffickers," he added.

He said the rescued girls would be forwarded for counselling. Also, steps would be taken to rehabilitate and, if possible, to repatriate them to their parents and families.

The rescued girls revealed they were related to the brothel keepers, the SP said adding this is how they were tutored.

For the purpose, NGOs like Bhoomika Vihar functioning in Katihar and Kishanganj have already been requested to come over to Purnia to render help in their rehabilitation and repatriation, the SP said.

NGO Bhoomika Vihar director Arun Kumar said that while quite a few rescued girls were offsprings of the brothel keepers, some of them had been initiated into the dirty flesh trade since their early childhood. They could not even tell the names of their parents or the places from which they had been brought, he added. He said the counselling of the rescued girls was at the present in progress and it was difficult to say at the moment how many of them had been trafficked or how.

The NGO, Bhoomika Vihar has done a commendable job in rescuing and rehabilitating trafficked girls across several parts of Bihar. Arun Kumar said that the girls rescued from Lakhanjhari redlight area belonged to different communities. "Their identity was being established," he said.

Staying Alive

2007-11-05T19:36:00.000+05:30

EDITORIAL TIMES OF INDIA NOV 2,2007

Nearly 8,000 aggrieved -- mostly married -- women have filed complaints since a law to protect them from domestic violence came into force in October, 2006. A national report on domestic violence titled 'Staying Alive' by Lawyers' Collective and supported by UNIFEM is the first monitoring and evaluation report of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 (PWDVA).

The PWDVA was conceived as a civil law whereas Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code falls under criminal law. The new law is more inclusive; it creates space for settlement of disputes and looks to providing relief to the aggrieved rather than just focusing on convicting the guilty.

The report states that the primary users of the new law are married women. There are also a number of cases where relief has been granted to widows and daughters. The law upholds the rights of women to reside in a shared household and to counselling and protection.

As a single-window clearance tool, it looks at physical, economic, mental and sexual aspects of violence. And it includes not just married women but those in live-in relationships as well as daughters and widows who are victims of domestic violence.

The PWDVA protects the right to reside in a shared household, yet finds it difficult to assure protection for want of institutional support. For instance, the law envisages the appointment of protection officers to record incidents and support distressed women, even giving them shelter in homes if necessary.

But state governments are making do with existing staff and homes instead of training and employing fresh candidates for that job and creating new infrastructure. States ought to assign funds in budgets for this provision so that women can take recourse to facilities afforded under the law.

Besides budgetary support and recruitment of special officers, state governments ought to give priority to education and poverty reduction programmes. The National Family Health Survey III revealed that violence against women is a serious problem in India.

Thirty-five per cent of women surveyed had experienced violence at home. But more women get abused in poorer and less educated households, which confirms the need to put education and poverty reduction on top of development agendas. Clearly, the law alone is not enough to protect a woman from abuse.

She needs economic independence that can free her from social prejudices and vulnerability. That kind of empowerment can come only with education, awareness and financial independence.

Govt plans new laws to curb rent-a-womb rackets

2007-11-05T19:35:00.000+05:30

Sumit Pande / CNN-IBN

TimePublished on Monday , November 05, 2007 at 13:43 in Nation section

New Delhi: India has become the new hire-a-womb destination for clients from all over the world. There are no proper laws to regulate it and that’s why the Government is now preparing its first legislation on surrogate motherhood.

Pushpa, a surrogate mother in Anand district, Gujarat, is part of this fledging industry and says that she is realising her dreams through this motherhood of a different kind.

“I live in a rented house but once money comes in we could easily build our own house,” Pushpa said.

But there are only two laws in India that deal with infant and the mother. The first one bans advertisement of baby food to encourage breastfeeding and the second one deals with maternity leave of the mother. However, no statues regulate surrogate motherhood in India.

So the proposed legislation will deal broadly with three issues – pre- and post-natal health care for the surrogate mother and the child, legal and financial obligation of the client in case of death of either the child or the mother and issues related to organ donations in the future.

In another move the ambit of the law to protect women from domestic violence is being increased, the proposal is to protect children through the law.

"We are just trying to make it an all-inclusive law so that everybody can be protected under one umbrella,” Women and Child Development Minister, Renuka Chaudhary said.

Whether real or surrogate, rights of the mother have become a matter of concern for the ministry and this time no stones will be left unturned.

Mumbai cops step up crackdown on dance bars

2007-11-05T19:32:00.000+05:30

Mumbai: It is been two years since dance bars were banned in Mumbai but many are still running, and the Mumbai Police is cracking down on them.

Recently, nine girls were arrested for soliciting customers at one such bar during a late night raid. A few days ago, six girls were arrested in a similar raid.

"Nine girls were arrested. They were soliciting customers,” says Inspector, Special Service Branch, R B Mane.

Many dance bars continue to thrive in some form or the other. Some feature live orchestras to entertain customers, and have women waiters.

Though it is legally allowed only up to 9: 30 pm, the bars generally close around 1:30 am.

Dance bar owners say the police crackdown is not justified, as the Supreme Court is still hearing their case.

"This is legal extortion,” says president, Dance Bars Association, Manjeet Singh Sethi.

While many of the dance bars still survive, reinvented as Orchestra Bars, fate hasn't been this kind to the dance bar girls themselves.

Thursday , November 01, 2007

Made famous by the film Chandni Bar, many dancers found themselves out of work after the ban, and have had no option but to turn to the flesh trade.

“Prostitution is up 10 fold. They have so many expenses and can only earn 100 -200 rupees a day as waiters,” says Singh.

NGOs demand that the girls should be treated as victims of the flesh trade. If caught by the police they face action under the Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act.

And often the real culprits get away scott free.

In one case while the girls, orchestra members and the bar manager were arrested, the owner escaped.

Do Delhi’s child workers and Dubai’s labourers need these crocodile tears?

2007-11-05T19:31:00.000+05:30

Natteri Adigal, 05 November 2007, Monday

The instigators, who nudge the construction labourers of Dubai to go on strike and the self-styled good Samaritans hyping their rescue operations to free child labourers in Indian cities are in fact the worst enemies of their supposed beneficiaries.

SAN FRANCISCO-BASED retailer Gap, more than 200 of whose 2000 suppliers of garments are from India, has given them a big Diwali bonus. But it is a cruel one.

Acting on an expose in the British newspaper, The Observer, about conditions in the tiny factories of its sub-vendors, Gap has decided to recall goods sourced from a Delhi-based supplier. The hand-stitched blouses intended for sale in GapKids stores across the United States and Europe, were allegedly produced by child labour. “As soon as we were alerted to this situation, we stopped the work order and prevented the product from being sold in stores," said Marka Hansen, president of Gap, North America.

A couple of weeks previously, Gap had pulled up another Indian supplier, Texport Overseas, based at Bangalore, after reports of the death of a woman worker on duty. Later, it was clarified that she had a brain tumour. With loud controversies in global media about its Indian vendors doing damage to its brand, the MNC is expected to rethink on doing business with India. It has already launched an investigation as to how work was being “parceled out to unauthorized sub-vendors.”

The British newspaper had printed pictures of youngsters making clothes for other children like themselves and revealed that they were employed in a "derelict industrial unit" with an overflowing toilet. It said such sweatshops were common in India and questioned the ethics of Gap. Obviously it was with the help of romantic homegrown social workers that the story was filed. Crusaders from the affluent West, who think it is “the white man’s burden” to protect the interests of poor Asians, have been often been joined by our own crusaders. But, do the impoverished children need their crocodile tears?

Activists and police, following the report, raided the “sweatshops” in Delhi, which were in full swing to execute heavy Christmas/New Year orders. They found 14 boys, aged up to as low as 10 years, embroidering sequins on saris. A majority of them were from the impoverished State of Bihar. In further raids, police caught another 77 child workers. “We are taking down their addresses, so that they can be sent to their parents," a police official said after a swoop.

After the rescue, what? That is too uncomfortable a question for romantic activists who “rescue” such children. For, the children are set free to go home to Bihar only to starve along with their family!

Laws are on paper in India prohibiting children under 14 from working in "hazardous" professions, covering 13 occupations and 57 processes. Garment, mining, hospitality and domestic sectors are in the list. However, these laws only help several thousand government inspectors to collect their pay and perks from the exchequer and the inevitable routine bribe from employers. It is open knowledge that Indian labour force includes between 75 and 90 million children. That is the inevitable result of stark reality of poverty in rural India, even as the media and political leaders go bonkers over India having more billionaires than China!

According to official figures, 12 million pre-teens work as domestic helps, in roadside eateries and in factories. According to anti-child labour activists, the figure is more than 60 million. The textile and garment industry itself employs about 44 million people. A high-profile good Samaritan of the Save the Childhood Foundation, Bhuwan Ribhu, basking in the glare of TV cameras, said that a few dozen children had already been “rescued” and claimed that his organisation works to rehabilitate child workers.

Activists and the media have a habit of going to town quite regularly to create a scare about the “appalling conditions” that the labourers work in. Apart from triggering shock and chest beating at the horror, all that these campaigns create is a scare that puts a temporary brake in the output of these factories. Yes, they also hike the bribe amount payable to inspectors!

In a separate development, the media in the West has gone to town about the “dark side of Dubai’s economic boom exacting harsh human toll.” Our own “conscientious” intellectuals and organisations have joined it. Any number of reports have been published that migrant labourers in the UAE live in squalid labour camps, work under poor safety standards and do forced overtime to eke out a living. The labourers are supposedly finding it all but impossible to send money home. A culmination of the campaign occurred at the Sonapur labor camp on the outskirts of Dubai this weekend.

Instigated by the good Samaritans, labourers in Jabel Ali project in Dubai resorted to what they are used to at home: demonstrate noisily. "We are on strike ... We want better salaries," said one Indian laborer as he stood at the gate of Sonapur labor camp on the outskirts of Dubai. He was part of a group of over 4000 labourers, who were detained for staging protest at Jebel Ali. A senior Labour Ministry official in Abu Dhabi had warned that all violent protestors would be booked and deported. The workers were so frustrated over pay and poor living conditions that they did not pay much heed.

Of course, it is not a pleasant experience to be a construction worker in the Gulf. Workers have to toil for long hours under the blazing sun in the desert emirate. Temperatures exceed 45 degree Celcius in the summers, and humidity is stifling for most of the year. Big crowds of laborers have to wait for long hours after work at the sites to get their turn to board buses that take them to far away camps. The distant accommodation is engulfed in dust and they get only a few hours of sleep before queuing up again for shuttling back to work.

But, has anybody stopped to ponder over the condition that construction workers back home live in? How much do they get, even during the current boom condition? It is common sight to see several families huddling together inside big concrete pipes by the roadsides. They have to cook their food in the open and cannot have a full meal more than once daily. Most of them even do not have this type of “roof” over their head.

Some 1.5 million Indians live in the UAE, more than half of them in Dubai. Abu Dhabi accounts for 300,000 and the rest live in the other five emirates. Most of them do manual labour in the booming construction industry. Quite a lot of them had entered the country illegally because of the penury and lack of opportunities back home. In June, the UAE government had announced an amnesty scheme for all foreign workers. They could either regularise their status or could leave the country without serving a jail term, according to the law, or paying penalty. The government even offered a free one-way ticket. Except for workers, who had been there long enough to remit substantial money back home, not many availed it.

Political elements among these veterans have been inciting the labourers that UAE has been prospering only by underpaying them. Illiterates, hailing mostly from Rajasthan, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh, were encouraged by these “good Samaritans” to go on strike to bring work projects that includes world’s tallest building to a grinding halt.

After the protest and the indignation raised by the international media, the construction company has posted a notice at the entrance of Sonapur camp – a three-storey concrete structure rented by it. The company promises that two doctors will start visiting the accommodation regularly. It has also undertaken to pay for the cost of air conditioning and cooking gas. "There is no mention of hike in salaries,” fumes an Indian worker. “We only want Dh 900 for unskilled workers and Dh 1200 from Dh 500 and Dh 700.” In neighboring building housing workers from another company, 24-year-old Bangladeshi laborer Mahmud Jaui complains that his Dh 500 monthly wage is barely enough to live on. He says, "Company does not provide us with food or water. We drink tap water."

Dubai Police chief, Dhahi Khalfan Tamim finds the charges amusing. He wants to know if these labourers had ever entered an air-conditioned space back home, where womenfolk trek several miles daily to fill their pots from open water bodies. He is keen to throw out the 4000 protestors out of the country.

Talmiz Ahmed, Indian ambassador to UAE, has managed to defuse the situation. Khaleej Times quoted him, "The matter is being resolved amicably." He clarified that only those workers against whom the police had firm evidence of having indulged in violence and causing damage to public and private properties would be prosecuted by the authorities. Other Indian workers would have the option to either stay on in Dubai and continue to work for the local contracting company, or else leave their job voluntarily and return to India.

According to the ambassador’s formula, labourers not desiring to quit have to furnish an affidavit and swear that they will not indulge in any such illegal activities and will fulfill all their contractual obligations. However, Dhahi Khalfan Tamim is categorical, "We have firm evidence against those workers who indulged in violence and they will all have to face legal action." The police reportedly had filmed some of the workers inciting violence, and those workers would be deported even if they gave an affidavit.

Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has urged the authorities to ensure that the right of protest of the workers be acknowledged. Deporting the workers trying to protect their rights by themselves is unacceptable, it said. But such statements are only for the consumption of desk-bound officials at meetings. While one Dubai official said 4000 strikers would be deported, another denied any move to a mass deportation.

Politicians back in India have started looking for obtaining mileage out of the plight of the Dubai labourers, caught between the devil and deep sea. Chandrababu Naidu, reputed to have made a Cyberabad out of Hyderabad, proved that basically he is a politician. He criticised the UPA Government that it has no humanitarian outlook and has been behaving irresponsibly in respect of rescuing the Gulf returnees, victims and their families. Naidu wants a special package for the returnees. As for the victims of Andhites, who committed suicide after falling prey to the allurements of Gulf agents, Naidu wants Rs 3 lakh to be paid ex-gratia to the next of kin, government employment to their children and allotment of ‘pucca’ houses! Interestingly, several MPs of his Party are facing charges of involvement in human trafficking!

Let us face it. Why are the labourers so keen to go to the desert, knowing fully well the conditions there? Is it not because they have no opportunities back home even to get basic necessities of life? Can “humanitarian outlook” alone ensure that the children of these unfortunate labourers be fed and educated and not made to land up as child labourers in sweatshops? The only alternative to prevent the tragedy is to dump all sorts of ideologies that come in the way of job creation. Till then, people will pay lakh of rupees to agents, MLAs and MPs to get them smuggled out of the country.

Let us face it yet again. It is indeed appalling to visualise the nimble fingers of a 10-year-old handling needles for hours together. But, does it make sense to see him/her digging on garbage heaps for food or begging on the streets? In all probability, soon after being sent back to their parents in Bihar, the lads will end up in another sweatshop, perhaps for a lesser wage because they will have to learn the work all over again.

Dignitaries like Kailash Satyarthi and Bhuwan Ribhu, who derive immense satisfaction after their rescue operations under media glare, may answer that it would be better to die than having to subsist on labour as a child! The question is, are they doing any good to their supposed beneficiaries.

http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=127487

Gap Inc. Acts on Child Labor Charges

2007-11-05T19:28:00.000+05:30

Bay Area apparel giant ends relationship with New Delhi, India contractor

SAN FRANCISCO – 11/01/07 – Multinational apparel giant Gap Inc. has severed ties with a major contractor in New Delhi, India after learning that the company employed children in its manufacturing operations.

“We strictly prohibit the use of child labor. This is non-negotiable for us…and we are deeply concerned and upset by this allegation,” said Gap North America President Marka Hansen after making the announcement of the Bay Area-headquartered company’s decision.

The statement followed revelations in a British newspaper, The Observer, that quoted child workers’ accounts of being sold by their parents, forced to work 16-hour days without pay and being beaten.

Children as young as 10 years old were held “in conditions of abject slavery,” the paper reported in a recent edition.

Hansen said the Gap Inc. “is committed to fighting for workers’ rights in cooperation with governments, nongovernmental organizations, trade unions and other interested parties.”

She added that “lapses exposed several years ago caused Gap to make serious efforts to monitor and prevent sweatshop and child labor in countries where its products are made.”

Social responsibility “is now part of [the company’s] mission,” she said.

“As soon as we were alerted to this situation, we stopped the work order and prevented the product from being sold in stores,” Hansen said, citing Gap’s “strict prohibition on child labor.”

Gap called an emergency meeting with regional suppliers to reinforce the policy.

Gap spokesman Bill Chandler told the Associated Press, “Under no circumstances is it acceptable for children to produce or work on garments,” saying the company is grateful “that the media identified this subcontractor.”

Indian lawyer and workers advocate Bhuwan Ribhu said that while he appreciated Gap’s actions, “Instead of canceling the order the [company] should make sure that wherever their production is going on, the manufacturing units shouldn’t employ children and also [should] regularly monitor their contractors and subcontractors.”

Sudhanshu Joshi, executive director of the Washington, DC-based International Center on Child Labor and Education (ICCLE), was “not surprised” by Gap's decision.

“There have been complaints for a long time about Gap,” said Joshi, who has worked on the issue for United Nations agencies, the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the World Bank, added that child labor is “endemic” in India.

“Gap has to prove that it is not going to thrive in business on the strength of the very cheap child labor that is available,” he said, recommending “stronger involvement of businesses with governments and civil society to monitor industries prone to using child labor.”

The US Department of Labor’s 2006 International Child Labor Report stated that approximately 4.1% of boys and 4.0% of girls ages 5 to 14 are forced to work in India with most working in agriculture, but children are employed in many other, often hazardous, industries.

Living conditions for the children are routinely sub-standard and abuse is common, the report said.

According to the Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA), India’s most active anti-child labor organization, children may be purchased for labor in impoverished villages of India for as little as $12.50.

A day after the The Observer story ran, the BBA, in cooperation with law enforcement, rescued 14 bonded child laborers in New Delhi.

The children, the youngest only 8 years old, embroidered fabric in the same Shahpur Jaat neighborhood and under conditions similar to those the children making clothes for Gap have been subjected to.

BBA co-founder Kailash Satyarthi said, “We are glad that after so many years the situation has changed a little as the international brands like Gap have admitted that there is child labor involved in their supply chain, and we also appreciate their immediate response to the situation.”

However, stronger steps are needed, he said, adding that he advocates the creation of a certifying body such as Rugmark, which prevents child labor through strict guidelines and regular monitoring.

India has progressed in curbing child labor, Joshi said, but it still has a long way to go.

“The government of India has been very, very bold and proactive,” he said, but the country should sign the International Labour Organization’s 1999 Convention No. 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labor, which has been ratified by 165 nations.

“It would have huge value,” and send “a strong message.”

The 2006 Trafficking in Persons Report, compiled by the US State Department, found that Indian law enforcement insufficient for the scope of the problem, and is frequently hampered by corruption.

In addition, numerous “factories” employing child laborers are small units operating from small homes in crowded residential areas, the report said.

The US Department of Labor currently partners with the government of India on the INDUS Project, which has the goal of liberating 80,000 Indian children from hazardous work by September 2008.

To the ICCLE’s Joshi, education is critical, and he said good education can be given to all “in the new resurgent India, which has the means to do that, and show to the world it can do it.”

ndia’s child labourers - they don’t go to school

2007-11-05T19:26:00.000+05:30

Mon, 29 Oct 2007.
Twelve million children aged between 5 and 14 work in various occupations including hazardous occupations

Florence Samuel, New Socialist Alternative (CWI India)CHINA WORKER

India is known for its rich variety in culture and also diversity in places and religions. Taj Mahal, Himalayas, Qutub Minar, Golden Temple, Kashmir& Khajuraho attract everyone’s admiration. In modern times India is making news for its unprecedented growth in the macro economy as well, it is also said that India is emerging as a knowledge society.

But is it enough to pat our own backs and feel contented when millions in this country go hungry everyday? Do we have the knowledge to understand the intractable problems faced by the vast majority of our population? Any objective viewer would certainly notice the evils of our society such as the discrimination of women, daliths & religious minorities. Above all the class-divide between the rich and the poor is so stark that it makes any conscious human being sit-up and think.

The children are the future…..!

Have you heard this oft repeated jargon somewhere?

India’s Government estimates (Census 2001) that over 12 million children aged between 5 and 14 continue to work in various occupations including many hazardous occupations. This includes about 1, 85,595 children who are estimated to be engaged in domestic work and roadside eateries.

Yes, child labour is a serious issue as serious as trafficking. The powers that be at the top claim that India is the largest democracy but the question is, is it being governed for the benefit of the majority? The rulers of this country irrespective of the ideology or the name of their party would like to showcase India @ 60 as a success story, but is it true?

Since independence the picture of India has been changing for the worse. Now-a-days you can find children from the age of 8-14 do such a laborious work that even the actual adult labourer would not have done. Instead of studying, playing and eating properly, they are working to get few rupees to their home. You can find children working in every possible area, for instance starting from household, garbage lifting, hotels, brick kilns , stone quarries and construction works, not only that you can see then very hard working, sitting under the scorching sun from 6 am – 8pm more than 8 hours of work.

The Child Labour Prevention Act which was amended on 10th of October 2006 banned children under 14 working as domestic servants and in dhabas, restaurants, hotels, and other hospitality sectors, making employing the above groups a punishable offence.

One year on, how far has the act been implemented by the national and state governments? The Central government had asked state governments to develop action plans to rescue and rehabilitate children who are working as child labourers. So far only three State governments have published these plans - Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, and even today 74% of child domestic workers are under the age of 16.

Some of the recent findings of a study on Child Domestic work have been:

• 99% of child domestic workers in Delhi and 84% in Kolkata are girls.

• Most child domestic workers are young girls who come from poor families and are forced to work for up to 15 hours a day with no breaks and little or no pay.

• 68% of the children surveyed had faced physical abuse and 46.6% of the children had faced severe abuse that had led to injuries

• 32.2% have had their private parts touched by the abuser, 20% had been forced to have sexual intercourse

• 50% of children do not get any leave in a year, 37% never see their families

• 32% of families have no idea where their daughters are working, 27% admitted they know they were getting beaten and harassed.

• 78% of workers receive less than Rs. 500 per month.

• In Delhi, 49% earn 1000- 1500 in a month. 16.4% get less than that.

• 42.7% do not know or have not been given their present address.

• 35% are brought to Delhi by relatives, 2% through agents and 22% through known agents.

India retains the world record for the employment of child labour. Balai Data Bank of Manila puts the figure at 100 million. Asia Labour Monitor says every third household in India has working children and over 20% of India's GNP is contributed by child workers.

Eight million children from scheduled-caste or scheduled-tribe families, some as young as 7 years, work as bonded labourers in the villages. These statistics give a graphic picture of the horrors of capitalism. Children suffer accidents and disease and become prematurely old.

More than 416,000 children under the age of 18, of whom almost 225,000 are younger than 14, are involved in child labour in India's cottonseed production. Most of them are girls.

They work in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, which account for nearly 92 per cent of the cottonseed production in the country.

A recent report titled 'Child bondage continues in Indian cotton supply chain' reveals that the total number of working children in cotton fields has risen over 2003-04.

According to the report, more than 13 Indian companies and two multinationals, Monsanto and Bayer, are involved in this modern form of child slavery.

Child Labour is a scourge - it must end!

Child labour has serious socio-economic effects. First, child labourers face major health and physical risks. They often work long hours and are required to undertake tasks that they are physically and developmentally unprepared to do. Carpet weaving, for example, can damage children’s eyes. Leather tanning can result in physical deformity. The Children of Sivakasi in Tamilnadu where most of the fire cracker & Fire Match industry is situated, have been suffering from bone deformities because of the dangerous Phosphorous with which they are forced to work with.

These physical dangers are compounded, as children are more liable than adults to suffer occupational injuries, owing to inattention, fatigue, poor judgement and insufficient knowledge of work processes. These health and physical effects are not limited to industrial occupations. The introduction of advanced farming techniques, new technologies, and chemicals can cause the same physical hazards in agricultural labour.

Second, child labourers are often underpaid, if at all. Children receive a fraction of the wage adults earn, even when employed in the same type of work. Also, children do not receive employment benefits, insurance, or social security. Thus, the employment of children becomes a competitive advantage for employers and even whole industries.

Finally, it is difficult for children to attend school or receive vocational training. Obviously, children working long hours have trouble attending school on a regular basis. Even if children are not working long hours, stress and fatigue affects their attendance and participation in school activities.

END CHILD LABOUR NOW!

Overwhelming poverty in India drives most child labourers into the workforce. In some cases, children work alongside their parents in an effort to raise their household income. This practice is prevalent in agricultural and domestic labour. Many children are forced into industrial labour. Some of these children have migrated to urban centres with their families to escape rural poverty. Others move to urban centres to look for work and send their families monthly income supplements.

The New Socialist Alternative will fight alongside the trade unions and the youth for an end to child labour slavery, as was done successfully in the past by the trade unions of Europe and America. Meanwhile we demand a limit of two to four hours work per day, at full adult wages agreed by trade union rates; education at the employer’s expense; reasonable access to a proper family life; and strict health and safety conditions in the workplaces; all under trade-union supervision.

As the government of the day has given full freedom to private sector this has lead to a monster called CAPITALISM which has ruined the life of all the classes. The profit driven capitalism is the root cause of all evils and it has to go. Make Capitalism history! Only then we will say THE CHILDREN GO TO SCHOOL

http://chinaworker.cc/en/content/news/280/

When will it be the children’s day?

2007-11-05T19:23:00.000+05:30

5 Nov, 2007, 0000 hrs IST,Tina Edwin, TNN

For the rupee-hit textile exporters, the expose in the western media about use of child labour could not have come at a worse time. Cancellation of orders by retailers overseas and closure of units will primarily hurt the poor families who were forced to send their children to work in conditions which most adults would abhor. The truth is that child labour cannot be wished away in India and other developing nations with vast population living below the poverty line.

In India, the situation may only get worse, rather than improve, as people get displaced from their natural habitation to make way for special economic zones, power plants and factories. The activism of the non-governmental organisation whereby children are ‘rescued’ and sent home does nothing to improve their lot. In doing so, NGOs may be pushing the children live a more difficult life, perhaps on the streets, begging for a living or taking to petty crimes. In many other cases, the parents may once again hand over the child to another contractor to work in another factory in a different part of the country.

Social activists based overseas and in India need to take cognizance of realities that drive people to send their children out to work. And accordingly, they need to realign their activism to ensure that children get a better deal at workplace - shorter hours of work, better and timely wages, decent boarding and nutritious food. That apart, it should be ensured that children are able to continue with their education at least till the age of 14, like all others, along with work. But that is not to say that child labour is acceptable. In an ideal world, every child should go through school, without worrying whether they would get their next meal.

But we don’t live in an ideal world and hunger is a reality for more than a third of the country’s population. Child labour cannot be scrapped by legislation or NGO activism. Poverty needs to be tackled with responsibility and accountability by the political and administrative establishment if child labour has to be abolished. That would require, among other things, more honest and efficient implementation of the poverty reduction and employment generation programmes funded by the central and state governments.

As it stands now, a sizeable proportion of the funds allocated for these programmes are spent on establishment cost and salaries of those put in charge of the project. More often than not, a significant portion is siphoned away by the contractors given the charge of the project. Thus, a very small portion actually reach the beneficiaries.

Again, poverty alleviation programmes are meant to be short term and thus have limited impact. A longer-term solution to reducing poverty requires expansion of economic activity, particularly in the rural areas, whereby jobs are initially created for unskilled work. Alongside, it is necessary to create opportunities for workers to acquire some skills that will enable them to take up better quality work and earn higher wages. Improved earnings can act to encourage people to send their children to school rather than work. And for that, it is important to ensure schools function with teachers who take their responsibility to educate the young seriously.

After Punjab, Haryana, now bride buying catches on in UP

2007-10-30T12:11:00.000+05:30

Tarannum Manjul
Posted online: Tuesday , October 30, 2007 at 12:00:00

Shahjahanpur, October 29 * Anita hails from a small village in Orissa. Five years ago, she was bought to village Shahganj in the Bhawaal Kheda block of district Shahjahanpur and sold off as a “wife” to Mahindar, a Pasi by caste, for Rs 7,500. Two children later, Anita still cannot talk to her “husband”, as she hardly understands his language. Moreover, the village does not consider her to be his wife.

* Meera Devi hails from Bihar. Rajiv, a Baniya, bought her for a mere Rs 8,000 two and a half years ago. So far, she hasn’t been able to conceive and Rajiv’s family feels they have wasted money on her.

If you thought the devil of buying brides has infected the states of Haryana and Punjab only, this might come as an eye-opener. In a district where the urban sex ratio is the lowest in the country at 678/1,000 and where the largest tehsil has a sex ratio of 535/1,000, the system of bride buying has become quite rampant in the last five years. Shahjahanpur’s block Bhawaal Kheda has several villages where, due to the low sex ratio, men have been buying brides from states like West Bengal, Orissa, Jharkhand and Bihar. The price is anything between Rs 7,000 to Rs 10,000.

Shahganj is one such village with a population of around 250 families. At least 60 per cent of the families here have bought “wives” from other states. And the trend, which started around five years ago, is still going strong. “We have been forced to buy brides from other states because there are hardly any women in our villages. The number of girls is really low in this region,” revealed the village pradhan, Lalaram.

Incidentally, a survey has revealed that bride buying cuts across barriers of caste and religion. Whether it is the Brahmins, the Pasis or the Scheduled Castes — all are involved in buying brides from other states.

Asha Devi, a 45-year-old widow from Kolkata, was bought as a wife by Brahmin widower Narayan Lal for Rs 10,000 — the “wedding fee” given to her son, she revealed — some five years ago. Asha Devi does go to Kolkata, where her son stays, once every two years. She may not be able to speak Hindi fluently but since Lal’s family is educated, they try to understand what she wants. “Here, I have no problems at all. Being a widow, I was rebuked back home. But now, I at least have a man who takes care of my needs,” says Asha.

Ram Lali (her maiden name was Anita) was bought by Ram Bhajan, a Baniya, from Kolkata four years ago for a “wedding fee” of Rs 10,000. She has four children and is happy that this marriage has saved her from a life of poverty. “The money my husband gave to my family has helped them survive. So it is not so bad for me,” says Ram Lali.

For the rest of the village, these “wives” are mere “arrangements”. Maheshwar, an elderly man in the village, said: “We know these women have been bought and proper ceremonies attached to marriage have not been performed. Hence, it is difficult for us to call them wives.” Mahindar, who bought Anita from Orissa, says, “I bought her from a man for Rs 7,500. She is satisfying all my needs and is also my children’s mother, but my relatives don’t like to call her my wife.”

Non Governmental organisations (NGOs) working on issues of maternal health and female foeticide in the village, say the declining sex ratio is indeed one of the major reasons behind bride buying. Sunil Singh of the Rahi Foundation, an NGO active in the district, said: “These women, who have been bought as wives, have no rights at all. They are brought here only as commodities and nothing else. One can also see that women are being trafficked here from states with high povertly like Orissa and West Bengal because their families need the money given in exchange.”

Dr Neelam Singh of Vatsalya, an NGO working across the state against female foeticide, feels strongly against the system of bride buying. “Women are being treated as machines that can be used to produce babies and satisfy sexual needs and they are being bought precisely for these reasons. Such practices have become commonplace because of the low sex ratio. The administration and government should ensure that social ills like female foeticide are eradicated so that the situation can change in the years to come.”

Today’s Hidden Slave Trade

2007-10-28T16:39:00.000+05:30

By BOB HERBERT
Published: October 27, 2007 New York Times

The woman testifying in federal court in Lower Manhattan could hardly have seemed more insignificant.

She was an immigrant from South Korea and a prostitute, who spoke little or no English. She worked, she said, in brothels in New York, Philadelphia, Georgia, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Washington, D.C.

She did not offer a portrait of the good life. Speaking through an interpreter, she told about the time in D.C. when a guy came in who looked “like a mental patient, a psycho.” Weirded out, she wanted nothing to do with him. But she said the woman who ran the brothel assured her everything would be fine.

It was fine if you consider wrestling with Hannibal Lecter fine. The john clawed at this woman, gouging her flesh, peeling the skin from her back and other parts of her body. She was badly injured.

According to the government, the woman was caught up in a prostitution and trafficking network that ruthlessly exploited young Korean women, some of whom “were smuggled into the country illegally.”

In prior eras, the slave trade was conducted openly, with ads prominently posted and the slaves paraded and inspected like animals, often at public auctions. Today’s sex traffickers, the heirs to that tradition, try to keep their activities hidden, although the rest of the sex trade, the sale of the women’s services, is advertised on a scale that can only be characterized as colossal.

As a society, we’re repelled by the slavery of old. But the wholesale transport of women and girls across international borders and around the U.S. — to serve as prostitutes under conditions that in most cases are coercive at best — stirs very little outrage.

Leaf through the Yellow Pages in some American cities and you’ll find pages upon pages of ads: “Korean Girl, 18 — Affordable.” “Korean and Japanese Dolls — Full Service.” “Barely Legal China Doll — Pretty and Petite.”

The Internet and magazines have staggering numbers of similar ads. Thousands upon thousands of women have been brought here from Asia and elsewhere and funneled into the sex trade, joining those who are already here and in the business but unable to keep up with the ferocious demand.

This human merchandise — whether imported or domestic — is still paraded, inspected and treated like animals.

What’s important to keep in mind is the great extent to which the sex trade involves real slavery (kidnapping and rape), widespread physical abuse, indentured servitude, exploitation of minors and many other forms of coercion. This modern-day variation on the ancient theme of bondage flourishes largely because of the indifference of the rest of us, and the misogyny that holds fast to the view of women — all women — as sexual commodities.

The case in Manhattan federal court involves a ring that, according to prosecutors, used massage parlors and spas as fronts for prostitution. Some of the women were in the U.S. legally. Others, according to the government, were brought in by brokers (more accurately, traffickers or dealers in flesh), who provided false passports, visas and other documents.

Elie Honig, an assistant United States attorney, said women brought in illegally were pushed into prostitution to earn money “to pay back the tens of thousands of dollars that the brokers charged the women as quote, unquote, fees for bringing them into the United States.”

He told the jury: “We are talking about a regional network of businesses throughout the Northeast United States and beyond involved in transporting and selling women.”

A jury will decide whether the five defendants in this case — all Korean women, and accused of running a prostitution enterprise — are guilty. But the activities alleged by the government mirror the sexual trafficking and organized prostitution that is carried out on a vast scale here in the U.S. and around the world.

There is nothing benign about these activities. Upwards of 18,000 foreign nationals are believed to be trafficked into the U.S. each year. According to the State Department, 80 percent of trafficked people are women and children, an overwhelming majority of whom are trafficked for sexual purposes.

Those who think that most of the women in prostitution want to be there are deluded. Surveys consistently show that a majority wants very much to leave. Apologists love to spread the fantasy of the happy hooker. But the world of the prostitute is typically filled with pimps, sadists, psychopaths, drug addicts, violent criminals and disease.

Jody Williams is a former prostitute who runs a support group called Sex Workers Anonymous. Few women want to become prostitutes, she told me, and nearly all would like to get out.

“They want to quit for the obvious reasons,” she said. “The danger. The physical and emotional distress. The toll that it takes. The shame.”

At home or school children remain equally vulnerable

2007-10-22T13:53:00.000+05:30

At home or school children remain equally vulnerable

By HT

Monday October 22, 12:59 AM

Human trafficking is the world's most lucrative businesses, after smuggling of arms and drugs. A study by Shakti Vahini, an NGO working on anti-trafficking issues, found that 378 of India's 600 districts are affected by human trafficking. India is a major source and destination for trafficked children and by conservative estimates there are about three to five lakh girl children in commercial sex and organised prostitution.

The National Human Rights Commission estimates that around 45,000 children in India go missing every year. Most of them are driven into prostitution, forced to work at homes and factories, pushed into begging, drug peddling and even in illegal organ trade. For those children who have been trafficked and rescued, rehabilitation remains scarce and reintegration arduous.

Children are not even safe in their homes. A study conducted this year by the Ministry of Women and Child Development says two out of every three children in India are physically abused and in most cases parents and members of the family were the main perpetrators. Also around 54 per cent children have faced one or more forms of sexual abuse and states like Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Assam and Delhi are the front runners in child abuse cases.

The study found that children in the age group 5 to 12 reported higher levels of abuse and boys were as much at risk as girls. The high abuse has been attributed to our patriarchal society where parents consider their children as their property and assume the freedom to treat them as they like. Severe physical abuse also takes place outside homes. The most common forms are corporal punishment in schools and physical abuse at work places. The study says 62 per cent of corporal punishment was in government and municipal schools.

The study found that very often crimes against children are not reported, as some crimes are not covered under the existing laws. The National Crime Records Bureau reported 14,975 cases of various crimes against children in 2005 as against 5,972 cases in 2002. But this is only indicative in nature as it is based on reported cases. There is no comprehensive law on human trafficking, covering all its forms and purposes and the existing criminal laws fail to address the situation of child trafficking. In fact, the Goa Children's Act 2003 is the only law that defines child trafficking, but this is just a state law and cannot be enforced countrywide.

Labour law enforcement is lax

By HT

Monday October 22, 12:59 AM

AS CHILD LABOUR continues to pose a daunting challenge, there is fresh evidence that a breakthrough could be in the making. Between 1950 to 2000, global child labour participation rates, declined from 27.6 to 11.3 per cent. The ILO reports that if in 2004 there were 218 million children trapped in child labour then their number fell by 11 per cent in the last four years. Encouraged, it believes that a future without child labour is within our grasp.

However, in India such a future remains a distant dream. While, child labour rates have indeed dropped by 22.45 per cent between 1950 to 2000, the country remains home to the world's largest number of child workers. Caught between confusing statistics and a plethora of laws, the country has been making slow progress, but in the right direction. For example, Bihar, where some 24,879 children work in brick kilns, today boasts of the country's first 'child labor free' block. Launched jointly by the district administration and NGOs, the `Happy Hisua' campaign removed all child labourers in Hisua of Nawada district in Bihar in just 100 days, admitting them to schools.

Similarly, Maharashtra became the first state in the country to prepare a state action plan for the elimination of child labour. Its Task Force, set up in 2005 has reduced the number of child labourers in Mumbai from 27,500 to 8,900 in 2006. Raids carried out by Mumbai's Juvenile Aid Police Unit (JAPU) have succeeded in sending 19,000 children home, if not enrolling them in schools. Important as these small victories may be, at the national level we seem to be losing the larger battle. The reason: lax implementation of labour laws. Surveys by the National Human Rights Commission have found that labour inspectors often conduct poor quality inspections, do faulty prosecutions and medical officers often falsify children's ages at the behest of employers.

India could learn a thing or two from Turkey where a strict labour inspection campaign, has in the last two years saved 4,000 children. This coupled with the country's time-bound national policy for the elimination of child labour, has helped reduce the number of its working children by 50 per cent in last five years. Or even from Brazil, whose Programa de Erradica and #231; and #227;o do Trabalho Infantil (PETI) has helped reduce child labour by 40 per cent in the last 12 years. Run by the Ministry of Social Assistance, it offers parents $30 per child per month on the condition that their 7-14 year old children attend school full time.

In fact it's universally accepted, that eliminating child labour simply makes good economic sense. The ILO has calculated that forcing children to work will cost $5.1 trillion from now until 2020, but making them study instead will cost just $760 million. Thus, it's high time the country shifts this fight for child rights into high gear and makes both rescuing and rehabilitating these exploited children a priority.

Everything can not be blamed on poverty

By HT

Monday October 22, 12:59 AM

It's official; there is no investment more effective for achieving the millennium development goals than educating girls. So says the World Bank, adding that the more the girls that go to secondary school, the higher the country's per capita income.

Even in the fields, their schooling translates directly to increased agricultural productivity. Yet gender disparities in education remain prevalent in India, where there are 136 out-of-school girls for every 100 boys. But there are good tidings as well, with incentives to the poorest families to send their daughters to school proving to be effective. The Centre for Equity Studies, for example, has attributed impressive surges in female enrolment (17 and 29 per cent in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan) largely to the mid-day meal programme. And across the country, primary enrolment for girls has increased by 31.6 per cent between 1980-2004.

Increasing education has unfortunately failed to check the mutation of traditional gender biases into a noxious new avatar: sex selective abortion. With female foeticide spreading to parts of the country where it was previously unheard of, thanks to modern technologies going where none have gone before, India's child sex ratio has been declining in 80 per cent of its districts since 1991.

For once, the deteriorating social indicator cannot be blamed on poverty. Not only do the two most prosperous communities of Sikhs and Jains record the lowest child sex ratios, urban areas are worse off than rural ones despite boasting higher levels of both affluence and education, and economically booming states like Gujarat are neck-to-neck with sinking ones like Punjab in playing a deadly gender sweepstakes.

Similarly thriving across class lines is the entrenched tradition of child marriage, which also continues to find a following even among affluent and educated people. A Rajasthan situation analysis conducted by the MAMTA institute found that an alarming 96 per cent of the young people in the Jhunjhunu and Sawai Madhopur districts were married off before they were 18. Instead of going to school, the boys were forced to start earning while the girls were pushed into early childbirths. In a vicious cycle, every child out of school is a child ill-prepared to give the next generation a good start in life.

Yet, when a social worker's hand was brutally chopped off for daring to campaign against child marriage in Madhya Pradesh, its Chief Minister reportedly said: "It is not possible to stop it. If Gandhi could not succeed in this, how can Babulal Gaur?" Clearly, important sections of our society remain ready to compromise children's rights in the name of tradition. We need to convince them that a country flourishes only when its children are happy and healthy.

Child's environment

By HT

Monday October 22, 12:59 AM

The evidence is compelling. Planners, implementers and academics all agree that the prevalence of malnutrition and child labour seriously obstructs economic growth.Dozens of global studies testify that children's malnutrition upsets their lifelong productivity, disease resistance and cognitive abilities. For low-income countries, the annual cost of malnutrition is three to four per cent of their GDP, cautions an ADB-UNICEF study of seven Asian nations including India.

Let us take a quick look at the child's environment in India. Sixty years after independence, most children lack proper access to safe drinking water, adequate medical care or sanitation. About two third of babies are born anemic and a third stunted, according to National Family Health Survey 2005-06. In six states for which complete data is available, only 60 per cent children are immunized. With 47 per cent of its below-five population malnourished, India tops the ignominious global chart of underweight children.

Those who survive such bleak circumstances grow up as potential victims of human trafficking, child abuse, forced labour, and hazardous work. Seventy five per cent children are physically and 50 per cent are sexually abused, according to a Ministry of Women and Child Development study 2007. Of this about a quarter of all children face severe sexual abuse and 50 per cent work seven days a week. India also leads the world in the prevalence of child labour, despite its official statistics widely believed to be understated.

This month, India's ban on child labour completes one year. Its overall share of children at work has declined from 34 per cent in 1951 to a little over 12 per cent in 2001, but sadly, the absolute numbers may not have come down. Niti Mehta of the Sardar Patel Institute of Economics and Research says in a 2007 paper that a part of the 29 to 34 million 'idlers' (who are neither enrolled in schools nor a part of the official labour statistics as per 2003-04 NSS figures) could indirectly be working.

India recognizes the need for investing in children through the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and its commitment to the Millennium Development Goals. Various Government ministries have proposed impressive schemes and enabling legislations for child protection but the progress is painfully slow and uneven. For instance, infant mortality is a notable 15/ 1000 in Goa against a pathetic 73/1000 live births in UP. The only way forward is to make the states, districts and panchayats realize that rather than a drain on resources, investment in children means prosperity for all.

2007-10-18T10:29:00.000+05:30

Like other countries, India doesn’t monitor trafficking accurately; even global numbers are broad estimates

Alison Granito
New Delhi

Businesses in India’s fast growing economy may be judged by more than their employees, but also by the company they keep. Forced and trafficked labour are present in the supply chains of many Indian companies and most don’t know it, say analysts.

For companies in most industries, the risk isn’t that victims of trafficking or forced labour will end up working directly for them, but rather for those providing services, from a subcontractor of a construction firm building a new plant to local food establishments that provide catering services.

While experts say the issue isn’t on the radar of most Indian companies, one of the few exceptions is Tata Steel Ltd.

“We see our job essentially as risk mitigation,” says Sanjay Singh, vice-president, public affairs, at Tata Steel. “We have to ensure that people that are drawn to the area because of the project are there because they have chosen to be. You can’t go around with one eye shut just because it is a matter of convenience.”

Worldwide, the largely black-market trade in people generates at least $32 billion (Rs1.25 trillion) a year, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO), which launched a major campaign on the issue in 2005.

Some 12.3 million people around the world are forced to work in labour-intensive industries such as construction, agriculture, sweatshops, food processing and preparation, domestic work, as well as the flesh trade, according to ILO.
“What we know is that South Asia trails only Southeast Asia in the number of trafficking victims, making it one of the most active places in the world for this and India is a major part of that,” says Patrick Belser, ILO’s Geneva-based research coordinator on forced labour, speaking via telephone from a hotel in New Delhi, where he was attending a UN-sponsored conference on trafficking in South Asia.
Like most governments, India doesn’t keep the necessary statistics to monitor trafficking accurately at the country level, meaning even the international numbers are broad estimates, says Belser.

One in five victims of forced labour is also a victim of trafficking, meaning they have been abducted, coerced or driven into their situation by fraud—usually a promise of a better job that has little resemblance to the one in which they end up. Once there, they often perform back-breaking physical labour with little to no protection from the elements, according to ILO and other UN bodies.

While the distinction between forced labour and trafficking can sometimes be blurred and some people can fall into both camps, those who aren’t victims of trafficking are often considered victims of forced labour because although they volunteer for work, they have to take on significant debt they have little to no chance of paying back, trapping them in the situation, say analysts.

“Fundamentally, the concerns that drive human trafficking are economic. Poverty, the desperate need for employment and other structural variables are prevalent here ” says PriceWaterhouseCoopers partner Anuradha Tuli. More than 300 million of India’s 1.1 billion people live on less than $1 a day, according to the World Bank.
A few Indian firms have taken a hard look at their supply chains—Tuli’s firm has worked with “a major tea producer” she declined to name—but most remain unaware or choose to ignore the issue.

On Thursday, a “Delhi Declaration” against trafficking was announced at the UN-sponsored conference. The declaration aims to forge alliances to fight trafficking and forced labour in South Asia, including development of a business coalition against the illegal trade in people here.

Non-profit organizations working against trafficking hope to see corporate sector involvement on several levels. “The government still doesn’t have a database that can track missing and exploited children and there are many firms that could help them accomplish that,” says Shireen Miller, head of policy and advocacy for Save the Children, Bal Raksha, Bharat.

“To the extent that they can target their employees and raise awareness so they don’t use child or forced labour in their homes, that would also be a welcome move.”
As for Tata Steel, it will virtually double its capacity away from its Jamshedpur base in Jharkhand into Chhattisgarh and Orissa. So, it is set to oversee a lot of construction work. The firm asks all contractors to sign and adhere to its code of ethics, which addresses human rights issues, and performs checks to look for things such as evidence of forced labour, said Singh. And the same would apply to any subcontractor hired by a firm working for Tata, he said.

The process isn’t necessarily an easy one, he notes: “The steel industry supply chain is very, very long.”

Human trafficking: A determined enemy

2007-10-16T09:06:00.000+05:30

Sidharth Pandey

Wednesday, October 10, 2007 (New Delhi)NDTV24X7
Every year close to one lakh Indians, mainly women and children simply disappear. Most end up either as bonded labour or are forced into prostitution.

On Wednesday the government and the United Nations came together and launched, as what is being called, one of the largest coordinated campaigns against human traffickers, even roping in Bollywood and Indian industry to take on the third largest organized criminal activity in the world.

Singing a song for the child victims of trafficking, singer Usha Utthup joined hands with other bollywood stars and NGOs to launch in India the Global fight against trafficking considered to be the third largest criminal activity next only to illegal drugs and arms sales.

''The children of red light areas are innocent and the real victims of trafficking,'' said Usha Utthup, Singer.

According to estimates there are over 12 million child labourers in the country. Many of them end up being forced into prostitution in the country.

''I want the customers to be arrested, the demand is higher for even kids between 9-6 years of age. These people need to be punished,'' said Renuka Choudhary, Minister, Women and Child Development.

Over the years several members of NGOs and police have been killed while fighting traffickers. The government and the United Nations say that they are fighting a very determined enemy.

''It is about 32 billion dollars industry. 800 thousand people are trafficked every year. The same people who are into moving arms also move people,'' said Jeff Avina, Director of Operations, UNODC.

''Its is becoming a focal issue because of the international pressure, because of UN pressure. It is time we have a system in place which is coordinated and visible and accountable,'' said Kiran Bedi, DG, BPRD.

India is one of the biggest sources as well as a destination for trafficking. While efforts are on to combat this highly organized crimes, delay in prosecution still remains one of the biggest stumbling blocks.

Fight on against child trafficking

2007-10-16T09:05:00.001+05:30

Manu Sharma Sachdev

Wednesday, October 10, 2007 (New Delhi)
It has been a year since the government banned child labour but virtually nothing has changed on the ground, thanks to the complete lack of enforcement.

Less than a month after the ban on child labour comes into effect, three girls were rescued from the Gupta household in Faridabad's IP colony. With nowhere to go, the bruised and traumatized girls spend five days in a police station while the accused go scot-free.

A year later, the government claims the child labour law is a huge success.

''We have been putting laws in place, the police is also being made aware. Its an evil we have to stop at all costs,'' said Renuka Chaudhary, Minister, Women and Child Development.

These words mean nothing to the girls who have changed many homes in the last year. Finally they are starting to settle down in this Bal gram in Sonepat.

Their physical scars have started fading away. The emotional scars will take time to heal but justice is far from done.

The traffickers are still at large due to a lack of any will to take action. The family who exploited and abused them is also out on bail. And even though the families of the girls have been traced, they still can't return home.

''My father had come to take me. But I had to tell him to go back because my case is on. After the case is over he will come and take me. It's nice here. I play with my friends, but I want to go home,'' said a victim of child trafficking.

Most of these children who've been rescued as child labour are also victims of trafficking.

Driven to desperation by poverty, these children are forced to look for ways to earn a living and end up falling prey to traffickers.

It's been a year since the ban on child labour was imposed and amended trafficking prevention act. But even these stringent laws have not been adequate enough to get justice for these girls and many others like them. Ironically its overlapping laws and the administration that is not able to effectively implement them

Hunt for parents of ‘sold’ Bengal girl

2007-10-16T09:00:00.000+05:30

Chandigarh, Oct. 15 The Telegraph : A hunt is on for the parents of a 15-year-old Bengal girl who sold her for Rs 30,000 to a Haryana farmer in a case that highlights trafficking from the eastern state.
“We have arrested Ashok (the farmer) from Sonepat’s Seoti village. We are on the lookout for her parents,” a senior police officer said.
The arrest of Ashok, 30, followed a complaint from the girl — possibly the first in Haryana where such incidents are rare — that he had raped her after she was sold to him about three months ago.
According to the police, when the girl told Ashok she wanted to go home, he refused and, instead, demanded his money back. “It was then that she mustered the courage to ask us for help. She is now in the care of a social organisation in Delhi,” the officer said.
A police team will soon be sent to Nathanpur, her village in Bengal, and to Delhi, where the girl has claimed she was brought by her mother before being sold.
Haryana’s skewed sex ratio (861 girls to 1,000 boys) has fuelled trafficking from states like Bengal, Assam, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. They are brought for marriage but allegations abound that they are pushed into flesh trade.
Although official figures are not available, estimates put the number of “trafficked brides” — brought for marriage — in Haryana at 50,000. Shakti Vahini, a Delhi NGO that has conducted a survey to highlight the problem, puts the number of such brides in the Mewat region, which borders Delhi, alone at 10,000.

Foreign adoption gets simpler

2007-10-16T08:59:00.001+05:30

New Delhi, Oct. 14: The government has prepared new adoption rules that will spare prospective foreign parents harassment and delays of over a year in adopting Indian children.

Indians who want to adopt may, however, have to wait even longer than they do at present.

Foreigners will no longer need clearance from the state governments’ adoption coordination agency, a process which officials and activists said often takes over a year.

“State government clearance takes over a year in most cases and is the main reason for the harassment and delays that prospective foreign parents face,” said a senior official of the Central Adoption Resource Agency (Cara).

Cara, the country’s apex adoption body, is likely to declare the new guidelines “anytime now”, sources said.

Under the new rules, the government will be responsible for identifying the agency in India that can offer a child for adoption. Now, foreigners have to first apply to their governments, which have to find and get in touch with adoption agencies in India on their own. This process, Cara officials said, delays the entire adoption procedure, increasing the trauma of the child as well.

“Once a child knows about the adoption, it is in his or her best interests to be handed over to the parents. Both sides need to know each other better,” the official said.

Indian parents may, however, have to wait longer before they can start a family with their adopted child as all applications will now be scrutinised by the Centre.

The existing rules allow Indians to approach agencies directly, increasing the possibility of trafficking and other crimes against children under the garb of adoption, officials said. Now, parents will have to first register with a “state adoption agency” recognised by Cara.

Trained social workers of the state agency will file a “home study” after visiting the home of the prospective parents and interacting with them. The report will be made available to Cara. The state agency will identify an adoption home that matches the child’s needs with what the parents want.

NEVER TOO YOUNG TO BE SOLD

2007-10-16T08:56:00.000+05:30

Conviction for human trafficking is made especially difficult by the complicated and fluid nature of the crime, writes Sreyashi Dastidar

“Trafficking is about completely reducing accidents,” the smug, paunchy constable on the screen was saying, causing much amusement among the audience. But the laughter faded away — when a policewoman started talking about how her calls always got transferred to the vehicular traffic department when she called her headquarters and asked for the anti-trafficking section.

If this is the response of a large section of the law-enforcement establishment to the phenomenon of human trafficking — only seven per cent of Indian police personnel is known to have received any training in the subject — what exactly does it mean to say the two words in India? Or for that matter in Bangladesh, Nepal and the host of countries bunched together as south Asia? The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime may have realized that giving some age-old crimes an umbrella name does precious little by way of curbing them. Hence, perhaps, the idea of GIFT (the Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking) and the keenness to have the government as the running mate — resulting in a two-day conference in New Delhi (October 10-11), which brought together NGOs, bureaucrats, ministers, filmstars, artists, corporate leaders, journalists, and, of course, policemen.

But where were the victims/survivors? It would be understandable if the decision to keep them away from the public forum was taken to show sensitivity to their “complex tragedy”. But what about their stories, the specifics of their cases, in the absence of which any discussion could only become a general exchange of pious intent? Case studies were too few and far between. Perhaps the idea was to show that exploitation and atrocities are the same everywhere?

One wishes the circumstances were the same, but they seldom are. How does one equate a girl lured away from a village in Meghalaya to a brothel in Delhi with the one pushed into beedi-binding by her own parents just so there is enough money to feed all the mouths in the family? Or a boy thrown into the laps of paedophiliac foreign tourists in Goa with one who runs away from starvation and poverty at home, to be picked up and employed by a brick-kiln owner who gives him a paltry daily wage and lunch? Which arm of the State — women and child development, labour, police, or home affairs if there is border-crossing — has failed to do its job in each of these cases, and which is responsible for ensuring that the trafficked person gets a livelihood and a respectable life?

This is why trafficking is such a tricky crime in developing countries with their many areas of darkness. In Haryana, for instance, where it is acceptable to destroy female foetuses and kill baby girls, young women are trafficked from Bengal and the Northeast and forced into marriage to keep the family line going. How does one, in the absence of a complaint from the girl or her family, initiate criminal proceedings against those who claim the girl as their daughter-in-law?

Not surprising, therefore, that three convictions are all that the anti-human trafficking campaign has to show for itself in India. Three is also the number of states — Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Goa — where anti-human trafficking units have been formed within the police force. But, as a senior bureaucrat pointed out, such cells tend to get identified as the ‘social’ desks (implying soft responsibility) and are put under weaker officers, while the complexities of the crimes require the most competent policeman at the helm.

It will be unfair to say, however, that any of the three states mentioned has a weak officer handling human trafficking, and the success of decoy-based raid-cum-rescue operations proves that law-enforcement agencies are waking up to the seriousness of the crime. But the problem here is that the anti-human trafficking units are located in the police headquarters in the state capitals, while the thanas in the districts and villages — from where most trafficked persons are sourced — are still largely oblivious to the threat.

More important, in the balance of power, the beneficiaries of trafficking — from the local dalals to the higher criminals who have the money both to buy human beings and to hush up investigations — have far too much advantage over those they buy, sell or exploit. In south Asian countries, where corruption is endemic to the system, how realistic is it to expect that the victims — raped, battered and psychologically wrecked — will be able to fight the unequal battle?

Of course, the NGOs are there to help with rescue, rehabilitation, and the all-important legal support. But most of them have not had it easy. An NGO worker from Hyderabad recounted how a rescued Nepali girl was repeatedly called to depose before the prosecution and asked embarrassing questions over and over again, in the hope that she would break down and withdraw her charges. It was a minor triumph that she did not, but what then? Going back to her squalid village in Nepal, waiting for the next lot of traffickers to pounce on her?

Rehabilitation and repatriation continue to be a sticky area in the discourse on trafficking in developing countries. For the State is unable to offer viable livelihoods to the rescued individuals, who often go back to sex work simply to ensure a steady income. If the State and the NGOs were better equipped with an infrastructure of shelter homes and self-employment schemes, most stories of trafficking could have had happy endings.

They may still, if the Delhi Declaration drawn up by the UNODC and the government of India, on the basis of the recommendations submitted by the working groups (connecting trafficking with business, law enforcement, HIV, and other issues), translates into any action. Thankfully, the UN label can still make the administration sit up and take note in countries like India. The UNODC intervention has already helped anti-trafficking units acquire a vehicle for operations, ensure victim-witness protection (extremely crucial if the rate of conviction is to be raised) and pool resources to house the rescued victim for a few days till he or she can be sent home or to a shelter. The Union minister for women and child development was heard promising changes in the Immoral Traffic Prevention Act, so that trafficked girls are not doubly victimized by being charged with soliciting customers for sexual services. Bureaucrats and ministers from the labour and home affairs ministries seemed equally committed, but the NGO workers seemed to know better. They preferred taking a break for tea while the ministers waxed eloquent on the many challenges ahead.

While the conference was drawing to a close in Vigyan Bhavan, a murky drama was unfolding in another part of the capital. An American citizen of Indian origin and three accomplices were arrested for trying to traffic folk artists from Punjab to the US. Since the artists were charged Rs 15-20 lakh each, this is probably a case of smuggling of migrants rather than trafficking (smuggled migrants are consenting individuals, while trafficked persons are coerced or lured). But the outcome of the case — whether it results in prosecution and conviction — could indicate what lies in store for those fighting to stop human trafficking in this part of the world.

Married into Traffic

2007-10-16T08:54:00.000+05:30

Deepali Gaur Singh, RH Reality Check,
Asia on October 15, 2007 - 8:17am

Endless films from the stables of the Indian film industry in the late seventies and eighties dealt with the issue of a false promise of marriage, the onset of an illegitimate pregnancy and emotions galore on being a virtuous as opposed to an ‘unwed' mother. In extreme circumstances the paramour would be simply bumped off to avoid embarrassment and social ostracism. In other situations, the ‘good man' (read ‘hero' of the film) would propose marriage to the now ‘soiled' lady in question. That is really what is at the center of many Asian social set-ups - marriage. Marriage redeems you, marriage apparently protects you, marriage gives you a legal status. But for the millions of child brides in the continent, marriage is the vehicle that transports you into yet another zone of exploitation beyond redemption - due precisely to the protection marriage enjoys as a societal sanction.

The practice of child marriage, though banned way back in the 1920s in colonial India, continues to be practiced quite openly under the purview of religion and traditional beliefs. In some states the auspicious occasions of festivals are an excuse to solemnize mass marriages of mostly under-age boys and girls very much under the watchful eyes of the law. And that is what makes the conditions of these young girls even more poignant. With such a high premium on marriage parents more often than not are willing to marry their young daughters to the first eligible man. Yes, man! because many of the grooms are much older widowers or men who would have abandoned their earlier wives for various reasons ranging from inadequate dowry to the inability to bear a male child.

The practice of child brides has been responsible for several other malpractices ranging from early widowhood - meaning abandonment by families - and so for many an almost natural transgression to the commercial sex trade or the devdasi system etc. Today, one in every three girls (33%) in India is married before they reach the age of fifteen - often a child herself and completely ill-equipped to bear a child. Besides it condemns her to a life of illiteracy, economic dependency and psychological and physical incapacity.

But what makes their situation even more risky is that very often marriage is the ruse used to dupe their families into literally selling their daughters into the commercial sex trade. In India it is one of the common routes into the sex trade for many women. Women, especially from rural areas and small towns, who entered into matrimonial alliances with out-of-towners found themselves being sold off to the next customer in the chain the minute they move out of the relatively more secure surroundings of their villages. People living within the community were the first links in the chain to take these fresh recruits to the sex trade. As part of the socio-economic set-up of the village, they know which family is poor or has too many daughters (dowry-related problems lead more and more poor girls into getting duped by false promises to marry); which family has lost breadwinner or is in debt; who has been deserted by a husband or lover (especially since families refuse to take them back for fear of social approbation and spoiling the marriage prospects of younger sisters); or which woman is pregnant or a widow. In poor societies trapped within the walls of their own traditional facades it actually is quite easy to ensnare the unsuspecting victims since instead of demanding dowry as most grooms and their families do, these fake grooms also pick up tabs for the marriage. And once taken from a remote village these penniless and illiterate women just get lost somewhere in the world that greets them, hardly ever being able to make their way back home and often choosing not too.

The human trafficking network is today considered the third-largest source of profits in organized crime, next only to the narcotics trafficking and the arms trade. And the trafficking of children usually happens through well organized networks of family, relatives, friends, community leaders, brokers, the pimps and owners of brothels, the police, political connections and the criminal nexus. So in countries like Afghanistan where the arms-for-drugs nexus already flourishes, the trafficking of children has just become another component of this already existing network. Human trafficking has been closely related to the drug trafficking routes and the established narco-mafia. Often parents here have been known to sell off their daughters as brides to pay-off debts in the poverty-stricken country - debts against a destroyed poppy crop, debts against food on the table for he rest of the family. And often these young girls (often also boys) are then sold off to the next buyer in this onward route of exploitation.

The size of the trade in the country can be gauged from the fact that over time India has become the source, transit and destination point in the international circuit with children in huge numbers being trafficked within and outside the country. India shares a porous border with over seven counties where political instability and economic compulsions are reasons at play for young girls from Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar and even as far Uzbekistan, to be sold to traffickers with a one way route, either into or through India. Trafficked children and women from these countries frequently on an onward journey to other countries in the Middle East often find themselves bonded to sweatshop labour, domestic servitude and forced marriages or sex slavery with the only thing that changes is the manner and method of coercion.

Nearly 64 per cent of India's districts are affected by human trafficking. And while ten percent of it is international, the domestic market is where the lion's share finds itself. In many cases it is the demographic imbalance caused by sex selective abortions in several states that has ensured the regular demand for child brides from poorer families and states to the "states of demand."

And a more recent controversial judgment by the Supreme Court on the question of whether the breach of promise to marry could amount to rape really needs to be seen in each context. (The woman's statement was that the consent she granted for sexual intercourse was conditioned upon the promise of marriage). While courts hardly ought to be the refuge for every woman upset at being dumped seeking to avenge her ex-boyfriend by filing suit yet, hopefully this judgment would not be used as a precedent for subsequent cases considering that women from smaller towns an villages invariably get sucked into the vortex of the sex industry simply by virtue of the promise of a false marriage and the high premium placed on the chastity of prospective brides. There have been instances of women who were raped, promised marriage and subsequently sold-off to the next bidder. The permutation-combinations for the relationship between young brides, marriages and sexual exploitation are innumerable. The end result remains the same.

Millions of children labour on in India

2007-10-16T08:53:00.000+05:30

Press release
11 October 2007
“Sonali, has come back home (Sandeshkali bloc, West Bengal) after two years. She is 12 years old and has spent the last two years as a domestic worker in Babughat, Kolkata. Cleaning a three floor house and cooking for a five member household. Her eyes brim with tears as she shows her hand that was burnt by her employer, who poured hot dal on it as there was a delay in cooking dinner one day. She fled with the help of a considerate neighbour”

The Child Labour Prevention Act which was amended on 10th of October 2006 banned children under 14 working as domestic servants and in dhabas, restaurants, hotels, and other hospitality sectors, making employing the above groups a punishable offence.

One year on, how far has the act been implemented by the national and state governments? The Central government had asked state governments to develop action plans to rescue and rehabilitate children who are working as child labourers. So far only three State governments have published these plans - Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, and even today 74% of child domestic workers are under the age of 16.

Government of India estimates (Census 2001) that over 12 million children aged between 5 and 14 continue to work in various occupations including many hazardous occupations. This includes about 1,85,595 children who are estimated to be engaged in domestic work and roadside eateries. NGO estimates are very different, and place the numbers of children employed in these sectors (domestic work and roadside eateries) for the country as up to 20 million (with 1 million children estimated to be working in these sectors in Delhi alone.)

In response to a Rajya Sabha question it was stated that as per the information received from the state governments, 2,229 violations of the recent notification banning employment of children under 14 as domestic help and in the hospitality sector were detected. 38,818 inspections were carried out by some state governments from whom reports were received and 211 prosecutions have been filed. The above figure’s clearly shows that there is a lot to be done.

Save the Children’s work in the states of West Bengal, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra clearly shows that these children are routinely subjected to many different forms of abuse from unsafe working conditions and lack of food to being beaten, they are deliberately burnt or sexually abused.

Some of the key findings of our study on Child Domestic work have been:

* 99% of child domestic workers in Delhi and 84% in Kolkata are girls.
* Most child domestic workers are young girls who come from poor families and are forced to work for up to 15 hours a day with no breaks and little or no pay.
* 68% of the children surveyed had faced physical abuse and 46.6% of the children had faced severe abuse that had led to injuries
* 32.2% have had their private parts touched by the abuser, 20% had been forced to have sexual intercourse
* 50% of children do not get any leave in a year, 37% never see their families
* 32% of families have no idea where their daughters are working, 27% admitted they know they were getting beaten and harassed.
* 78% of workers receive less than Rs. 500 per month.
* In Delhi, 49% earn 1000- 1500 in a month. 16.4% get less than that.
* 42.7% do not know or have not been given their present address.
* 35% are brought to Delhi by relatives, 2% through agents and 22% through known agents.

“Childhood only happens once. For some it doesn’t happen at all.” said, Thomas Chandy, CEO, Save the Children, Bal Raksha Bharat. “To ensure that each child is guaranteed his/her childhood the government and the NGOs need to work towards implementing the CLPRA in spirit and form. Save the Children is working along with different Ministries at the national level and state governments in West Bengal, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Maharastra to ensure its implementation.”

Save the Children is calling for:

* Better enforcement of the act ensuring that the children are rescued from banned occupations and the offenders are prosecuted.
* All state governments asked to formulate state plans of action to enforce CLPRA and implementation of the same.
* In line with UNCRC the age limit of the child be raised from 14 to 18. This would ensure that huge number of children aged between 14 and 18 working in hazardous occupations are rescued and rehabilitated.
* We need to be recognise that girls who work as Child Domestic Workers are at a great risk of being subjected to abuse.
* Undertake concerted campaigns to raise public awareness and strictly enforce penalties on employers.
* Undertake study and close scrutiny of the placement agencies, especially those working in source and destination districts to combat child trafficking into forced child labour.
* Effective plans from the government to rehabilitate former child workers and help them re-enter schools and benefit from India's various poverty alleviation programmes, especially in the areas they come from (source areas).

For more information, contact: Anuradha C. Maharishi
Media and Communications Manager,
Save the Children
on +-91-9811626122 or
a.maharishi@savethechildren.in

Source: Save The Children

Seduced, imported, sold...

2007-10-14T13:33:00.000+05:30

Namita Kohli, Hindustan Times
Email Author
October 14, 2007

It’s a two-way street: of greed and need. When traffic flows, at the dead end are unsuspecting people, bartered every day in a consumerist society. As the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) identifies India as a top source, transit and destination country for human trafficking, the spotlight is, yet again, on the issue and its million victims.

Prerna, 14, was lured from Andhra Pradesh to Delhi, by her aunt. On reaching the city, she was sold to a brothel for a paltry sum. “I don’t know who raped me, but there was blood on my body when I got up the next morning. We were told that if we escaped, the police would beat us black and blue,” she says, adding, “Those who don’t manage to escape, eventually turn into traffickers themselves.”

One crime, many faces

For those working against trafficking, one of the biggest challenges is its ‘multi-faceted’ nature. In a rapidly transforming society, demands are ever-changing: prostitution, domestic work, friendship clubs, child sex tourism, migrant labour, forced marriages, even adoption. The human trafficking market feeds on all these.

“A low female sex ratio in Punjab and Haryana has given rise to trafficking in brides from poorer states like Jharkhand and Chattisgarh. They are brought for marriage, but many times they are forced into the sex trade,” says Rishi Kant, anti-trafficking activist at Shakti Vahini, a Faridabad- based NGO. In a city like Delhi, says Kant, domestic help placement agencies — all unregistered — are also trafficking women and children in droves. In one recent case, Darjeeling’s Priya Tamang, 12, came to Delhi with an IB official who promised her parents to educate her. The child later fled and told the police that they treated her as a maid. She is now staying in a Nari Niketan home in Karnal.

“It’s a colonial mindset of ‘master’ and ‘slave’,” says Bharti Sharma, chairperson, Child Welfare Committee. Sharma, who works with minor victims at the Nirmal Chaya Complex in Delhi, says she hears stories of multiple abuse inflicted upon children in domestic work. Away from their families, the child is not allowed to build a social network. Sexual, mental and economic abuse follows. In a fight or flight situation, more often than not the latter happens. “It’s here that either the child is restored to the police or goes untraceable.” Of late, she says, traffickers have also been tapping yet another market: adoption rackets. “It’s a complex crime, with multiple layers.”

To and fro

Even more complex are the routes charted by traffickers. According to a 2005 National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) study by Dr PM Nair and Sankar Sen, trafficking from neighbouring countries like Bangladesh and Nepal is about 10 per cent; 89 per cent of the crime takes place internally. The UNODC report clearly shows the major ‘harvesting’ zones: Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Assam, Jharkhand and Orissa. High demand areas point towards Goa, Maharashtra and Delhi. “As a transit point, Delhi scores on good connectivity — international airports and railways stations — so criminals are using it for trafficking people to Pakistan and the Middle East,” says Delhi Police PRO Rajan Bhagat. “Girls from predominantly tribal areas like Jharkhand are easy to lure,” says Manju Hebrom, member, National Commission for Women. Due to poverty, she says, young people become easy prey for the traffickers, who have extensive links in remote areas. From there, victims are transported in an organised way, with bodies changing hands and transaction made at each stage in the process.

The law is an ass

“The Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act (ITPA) concentrates more on prostitution, than the other forms of trafficking. Labour laws that permit the movement of people also need to be amended,” says SC Raina, professor in charge, Campus Law Centre at Delhi University. A constitutional mandate under Article 23, the Indian Penal Code and a host of other laws like the JJ Act complete the legal framework against trafficking. But implementation is the problem. Prosecution is often delayed, witnesses are not protected and the ‘victim’ is made the criminal. “Also, the police often don’t even register an FIR,” says Hebrom.

“We need to kill the source of demand,” says Renuka Chowdhury, minister for Women and Child Development, referring to Section 5C of the ITPA, one of the proposed amendments that penalises the customer. She points to the prosecutions in Andhra Pradesh : 1,008 traffickers and over 300 customers were arrested this year.

“As of now, the victim doesn’t even have the right to represent,” says lawyer Aparna Bhat, pointing to the situation where the ‘victim’ turns into a mere witness. She stresses the importance of anti-trafficking units (ATUs) and regional cooperation. This year, for the first time, ATUs were set up in Andhra Pradesh, Goa and West Bengal.

Rescue to restore to rehabilitate

But this is only half the battle won. The NHRC study found that 24 per cent of the ‘rescued’ victims are pushed back into the trade. At the UNODC conference, Chowdhury rattled off a slew of rehabilitation schemes and stressed that state governments should take action. Meanwhile at the same event, corporates waxed eloquent on ‘strategic philanthropy’. But on the ground level, things aren’t as simple.

“In a country where even the Below Poverty Line card is possessed by only those who can buy it, schemes don’t reach the needy,” says Sharma, recalling instances of children being re-sold by parents as bonded labour in Bihar.

“A successful rescue operation is a lost effort without rehabilitation,” says Kant. Ask the authorities to define rehabilitation and most talk of making the victims self-reliant by giving them stitching, knitting or beauty training. “None of these vocations is lucrative enough and soon, leads to frustration,” argues Gary Lewis, UNODC representative.

But time is running out for victims like Rekha, who was rescued from Delhi’s red light area in 2001. She was only 14 when she left Jharkhand to work in Delhi as a domestic help. One day, she decided to return home. While waiting at a bus stop, a friendly ‘auntie’ offered her a drink. The next thing she remembers is waking up in GB Road. “I was beaten, assaulted and raped,” says Rekha who was rescued a month later. Two years later, she was still languishing in a rescue home, waiting for the verdict. One of the many stories that NHRC has recorded, Rekha says, “I wish I hadn’t been rescued.”

Piecemeal efforts are on to ensure that these girls don’t end up as mere case studies. Perhaps, as Nair suggests, well-coordinated community policing that’ll emerge from the concerted effort of the law-enforcers and the vigilant citizens can prevent the menace.

namita.kohli@hindustantimes.com

(Names of the victims have been changed)

14 years, countless cases

2007-10-14T13:26:00.001+05:30

(As told to Namita Kohli), Hindustan Times

Sunday October 14, 2007

"I have lost count of the number of rescue operations I’ve been part of,” says 39-year-old Ravi Kant, who has been working against human traffickers for the last 14 years. Since 2001, Kant has been running his NGO Shakti Vahini in Uttar Pradesh. Here, he narrates some of his field experiences — a grim reminder of the crime that’s taking place somewhere around our comfort zones.

December 2006, Faridabad (UP): This was a very disturbing case of child sexual abuse. A young couple had brought three minor girls to Faridabad for domestic work. The children, who were not even in their teens, were kept captive in the toilet. They were served food on the toilet floor, beaten and sexually abused. I saw injury marks on their bodies. When we reached the house, the lady refused to open the door, but later gave in. The police arrested the couple, but there was a lot of pressure to release them. As for the girls, they were very traumatised and could barely speak. To add insult to injury, the victims are sometimes made to sit on the floors to narrate their stories.

December 2006, Jind (Haryana): One Ajmer Singh lured a 13-year-old girl, Tripala, from Jharkhand on the pretext of marrying her. She was taken to a farmhouse where she was asked to have sex with his brother. When she refused, Singh slit her throat. I traced her parents to Ranchi. When I broke the news of her murder to them, they were shattered. In many such forced marriages, parents back home are unaware of their daughter’s fate.
December 2006, Delhi: One night, I got a call from the local informants about Manju. She had been trafficked from Latur, Maharashtra, to a brothel in Kamala market. When I reached the spot with my team some 25 minutes later, their musclemen were hanging around, as always. The senior women in the brothel, who are usually aware of the law, tried to stop us by raising a hue and cry. Usually, in such times, they hide the victim in a water tank or the attic. But Manju was in a room. She had managed to persuade another victim to come to us. The girls had been beaten, raped, and had faced a lot of violence. As we took them out, all sorts of threat followed. ‘Dekh lenge, aapne accha nahi kiya,’ they said. The threats and menacing glares followed us in court as well. In places like Delhi, rescue operations are easier. But in smaller cities like Agra and Meerut, the local police are at times hand-in-glove with brothel-owners, making the operation difficult.

October 2005, Haryana: Three girls from Assam and West Bengal were trafficked to Mewat and were about to be sold for marriage. The whole village was up in arms against the rescue operation. Even the police were sceptical. Some violence also took place. It took us two to three hours to counsel them. ‘What would you do if these were your daughters? These are human beings, they can’t be sold like property,’ we appealed to them. They finally gave in.

FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF MEDIA COALITION

2007-09-24T22:45:00.000+05:30

Member NCW Ms Hembrum at the Media Coalition Meet

OUR INSPIRATION

Shri Jai Shankar Ji, Sr Spl Correspondent Dainik Hindustan

Mr Arun Sarma , Hon Member of Parliament at the Media Coalition Meet

Our Didi Ms Archana Tamang UNIFEM - Friend Philospher and Guide

Chairperson Mohuya Ji with Didi

NATIONAL MEDIA COALITION FIRST ANNIVERSARY PICTURES

2007-09-23T00:01:00.000+05:30

National Media Coalition First Anniversary Programme Ms Archana Tamang UNIFEM, Ms Renuka Choudhary -Hon Minister for Women and Child, Shri Vayalar Ravi Hon Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Govt of India and Mr Mark Lagon , Ambassador at Large Office to monitor Trafficking US Department of State .

Shri Vayalar Ravi Addressing the Journalists

Mr Mark Lagon at the National Media Coalition Programme in New Delhi

Smt Renuka Choudhury and Mr Vayalar Ravi Inagurating the Programme

Smt Renuka Choudhury at the National Media Coalition Programme in New Delhi

US warns India of sanctions

2007-09-22T21:54:00.000+05:30

The Tribune

Chandigarh, September 19

The US has warned India of sanctions in case it failed to take effective steps to tackle human trafficking.
It continues to be a serious problem in India, says the latest US State Department Trafficking in Persons report in which India has been placed on the Tier II watch list for the fourth consecutive year because of its failure to tackle this multidimensional problem.
The report, released recently, states that though the Government of India is making significant efforts, it does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of human trafficking.
Taking the report seriously, Ambassador-at-large and director of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (TIP) and senior adviser to the secretary of state Mark P. Lagon was on a two-day visit here to gather first-hand information of the situation on ground. He held closed-door meetings with government officials and with the ministry of women and child development.
Tight-lipped about the report, he stated that the US had put India on the Tier II list following strict parameters.
Lack of any significant federal government action to address bonded labour, the reported complicity of law enforcement officials in trafficking and related criminal activity, and the critical need for an effective national-level law enforcement authority impede India’s ability to effectively combat its problem of trafficking in persons.
The ministry of home affairs (MHA) estimates that 90 per cent of sex trafficking is internal with women and girls from Nepal and Bangladesh being the main victims.
In September, 2006, the central government had established a two-person nodal cell, which, however, did not have any authority to investigate and initiate prosecutions of trafficking crimes across the country.
Some initiative has, however, been taken this year. Three state governments established anti-trafficking police units with substantial US and UNODC assistance. The central government passed a law in October, 2006, banning the employment of children as domestic help and in the hospitality industry. In a July, 2006, decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the Maharashtra could seal brothels under the Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act (ITPA).
The report observes that the government did not take any substantial measures to prosecute its officials involved in trafficking-related corruption, though it arrested three of them for their involvement in such cases.
It also states that efforts to investigate and punish trafficking crimes during the past year were uneven and largely inadequate. Only 27 convictions for trafficking took place in 2006. At least 43 rescue operations led to release of 275 victims of commercial sex trafficking from their exploiters. However, vigorous prosecution of traffickers was not done.
India arrested 685 suspected sex traffickers, but there were no reported prosecutions or convictions this year so far.
The report quotes a study by the National Human Rights Commission that a majority of traffickers claimed to rely on corrupt police officers for protection.
The central government reported no protection services offered to Indian victims trafficked abroad for involuntary servitude or commercial sexual exploitation, and it does not provide funding to repatriate these victims. The government of Kerala, however, appointed nodal officers to coordinate with Indian embassies in destination countries to assist victims from the state.
The government of India relied heavily on NGOs to assist sex-trafficking victims. Though a few states operate such homes for victims, they do not receive any protection services, such as psychological assistance from trained counsellors. Many victims do not get long-term alternatives to remain in the shelter.
Andhra Pradesh, the state with the largest number of trafficking victims, now provides Rs 10,000 to sex-trafficking victims.
While the ministry of overseas Indian affairs instituted a system requiring women below 35 to obtain authorisation to go to the Gulf as domestic helps, it failed to educate those travelling overseas on common trafficking perils or resources for assistance in destination countries.

Slaves on lease in Hyderabad

2007-09-22T21:46:00.000+05:30

Times of India 19 Sept 2007 Hyderabad

HYDERABAD: Slaves are available on lease and the business of renting out underage workers is not happening in some far-flung interiors of the state but right in the heart of Hyderabad. Workers, many of them girls in their teens and children under 14 years of age, are being "leased out" to families or ‘parties’ willing to cough up the lease amount for two to three years. At the end of the period the worker is returned to the middleman who leases them out again to another party that quotes a higher bid.

The police say they are aware of this disturbing trend but not as an organised racket but stray instances of people (middlemen) getting teenaged workers to the city and leasing them out for a few thousand rupees. Families residing in the city’s posh areas are leasing out these workers as domestic servants (and not as sex slaves) in many cases. This disturbing trend, that old timers say has been in place for some years now, is going on uninterrupted, fresh ‘enforcements’ of child labour laws not withstanding. An illustrating case is that of a young 17-year-old girl whose ‘lease’ with a ‘respectable’ family got over recently. Scared of the prospect of falling in wrong hands, she pleaded her former employers to pay the middleman a little more so that she could continue staying with them after her lease period got over.

A city old timer and an active citizen who witnessed the deal said, "It happened here, in Punjagutta. She pleaded with the family to pay an additional Rs 1,000 to the middleman. She was scared. They (child workers) are being brought from Orissa, from Srikakulam.’’ Activists say bidding for child workers is commonplace while the police say that only stray cases have been brought to their notice. "Bidding is common for domestic child labour," says child rights activist Isidore Philip, adding that some children who were leased out in this manner have been rescued recently. And the profile of middlemen who are pumping the trend could be as varied as the friendly local villager to a bus conductor who shuttles between villages and the city. "They are being given not just for domestic helps, but also in shops and other commercial establishments," says Rafiuddin Nair of Hyderabad Council of Social Welfare.

He says middlemen are now smart and they prefer to lease out child workers so that their place of work can be changed at regular interval to evade the police. "We have come to know of instances and we inform the labour department about it," says S Umapathi, inspector general of police. He said while stray instances have come to light, it does not appear as an organised racket. The labour department has meanwhile set a target for district officials to file 100 cases of violation of the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act. "Children being leased out or engaged in any form is a violation of the Act," says Bhanwarlal, principal secretary, labour.

Severe penalties to be imposed in human trafficking cases

2007-09-22T21:36:00.000+05:30

Wednesday, 19 September , 2007, 03:48 IANS

New Delhi: India would impose "severe and exemplary" penalties on those indulging in human trafficking and launch a nationwide awareness campaign on the risks of illegal migration, Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi has said.

Major amendments would be effected to the Emigration Act of 1983 to introduce a provision to prevent "human smuggling," Ravi said here on Tuesday. "We are going to make the penalties for those who indulge in such crime severe and exemplary," he said while delivering the inaugural address at the consultation meeting of the National Media Coalition against trafficking.

"In the next few weeks, we will launch a nationwide awareness campaign on the risks of illegal immigration," Ravi said, adding: "It must be remembered that illegal immigrants are most vulnerable to exploitation and abuse."

Over 100 journalists from across the country, besides civil society activists and UN agencies participated in the meeting.

http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=14529278

Bangla, Nepal migrants compound problem

2007-09-22T21:33:00.000+05:30

The Assam Tribune

NEW DELHI, Sept 19 – Illegal migrants from Bangladesh and Nepal has added to the problem of human trafficking in the North Eastern States. This is the opinion expressed by speakers from the North-east participating in a meeting of the National Media Coalition against Human Trafficking. Experts drew a grim picture of the human trafficking scenario in the Region pointing towards the acute poverty among the people on account of lack of economic development, growing unemployment, militancy, ethnic turmoil, floods and illegal infiltration.The day-long meeting was inaugurated by Union Minister for Women and Child, Renuka Choudhury and Union Minister of State for Overseas Indian Affairs, Vayalar Ravi. Others who attended the meeting included the US Ambassador at large, Mark. P Lagon, India Chief of the United National Office on Drugs and Crime, Gary Lewis, Archana Tamang of UNIFEM.

Participating in a discussion, Dr Arun Kumar Sarma said that most of the women and children were trafficked for employment. In some cases girls were promised marriage in Gulf countries. In the last two-three years, girls from the Region have been taken to various parts of the country and abroad, he added.The crisis has been compounded by the presence of a large population of Bangladeshi migrants in the Region. The cheap labour is a major attraction and there is no record of what has happened to the womenfolk who have been taken as cheap labour force, he added.He further added that flood have affected a large number of population in Assam and some 50,000 people are currently living in relief camps in pitiable conditions. Roads and embankments have been washed away and there is no living space available. These flood victims become easy prey for human traffickers, he said.He further added that the victims of ethnic riots living in refugee camps in Kokrajhar district have also fallen victims to touts.

Joining him, senior journalist and North-east bureau chief of The Indian Express, Samudra Gupta Kashyap said “Some 2000 young girls living in 21 relief camps were missing. He added that around 10,000 young men have been killed in conflicts, while another 6000 are members of different armed groups.”He said there was such acute poverty that people were willing to be trafficked in absence of any viable alternative. He cited the instance of a village in Gossaigaon district, where most of the boys were missing. There is no school and no drinking water. Most of the girls were unmarried. There are reports of girls being trafficked.In this connection, he lauded the initiative of All Bodo Students Union (ABSU) which has been intercepting buses and trains bound for Delhi and Gujarat and rescuing victims of human trafficking. He said illegal migrants from Nepal and Bangladesh have added to the surplus labour force. According to the Ministry of Home Affairs 90 per cent of India’s sex trafficking is internal. Women and girls are trafficked internally for commercial sexual exploitation and forced marriage.

According to US State Department Report, India is also a destination for women and girls from Nepal and Bangladesh. These women are also trafficked through India for involuntary servitude in the Middle-east. India was placed in Tier 2 Watch List by the US State Department for a fourth consecutive year for its failure to show increasing efforts to tackle the large and multi-dimensional problem.

http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/details.asp?id=sep2007/at08

Brides of Bargain

2007-08-05T12:18:00.000+05:30

The Sunday Deccan Herald

Bride trafficking continues to thrive in Haryana as women are bought like commodity costing less than cattle from faraway states like West Bengal. For these women life still remains a tryst with destiny...

As the dawn breaks out, Kavita rises from her barren cot in a village near Hisar in Haryana. For a brooding moment she regards her surroundings. There are cows and buffaloes for company in the shed adjoining her little hut with a thatched roof where hay stacks are piled up. She looks for her husband who has sneaked away after paying her a usual nocturnal visit to join his family members who live in a concrete structure more appropriate to be called a house not too far away from her modest surroundings.Suddenly becoming conscious of her unkempt self, she hastily draws the veil over her face and heads to greet her mother-in-law. She is learning the cultural nuances of the new place. The day’s work is cut out - milk buffaloes, clean-up the house, prepare meals, head for the fields, tend to household chores…

Her husband and family members keep a strict watch on her movements and dissuade her from interacting with anyone outside the family. All of 18, Kavita has adapted to her new life in a land and people so alien to her native place in West Bengal thousands of miles away. As someone who was bought by her husband, Sher Singh, Kavita knows her place and status in the family which is not much to speak of. She is grateful though for one thing - at least she is getting two square meals a day which itself was a utopia in her famished parental house in a nondescript village in West Bengal. She also thanks her stars on days when her husband does not beat her up. And cherishes the rare moments when the womenfolk in her house talk to her sweetly. Kavita is a prototype of thousands of brides who have been trafficked, bought and transplanted into traditional households in Haryana villages and towns from as far as West Bengal, Assam, Orissa, Jharkhand, Bihar and even from Bangladesh.Ask Kavita about her married life and she sighs. “I am learning to live in the new environment. I had to learn the local language and customs.” She has been assured a place in the main portion of the house from her current lodging in a hut if she delivers a baby boy.A commodityAt a metaphorical level, they represent the inverse of George Orwell’s world in Animal Farm where animals having fallen to human vices increasingly seem to behave like men.

Bought like a commodity costing less than the cattle and treated like chattel, the majority among thousands of procured brides in Haryana have a quick transition into the degenerated existence of a ‘Paro’ - the ‘bought one’ in local jargon.Though there are no official figures available, there are an estimated 50,000 trafficked brides in Haryana. Shakti Vahini, a Delhi-based NGO which conducted a survey on bride trafficking in Haryana estimated nearly 10,000 trafficked wives - mostly from Assam and West Bengal - in Mewat region of Gurgaon district alone. The Mewat region is among the most backward regions of the state. It is normal to find 35-plus men having 13-year-old brides in this region.The trend of procuring brides from outside Haryana is rooted in the changing socio-economic dynamics in the traditional Haryana society.In a state which is notorious for low female to male ratio (861 girls to 1000 boys), the paucity of girls of marriageable age is beginning to be felt in many villages and townships.

Coupled with this disturbing trend is the fact of increasing unemployment, drug addiction and delinquency among the youth. “The poor, landless and labourers have become principal procurers of brides from other states. The parents of girls in local communities are not enamoured to strike matches with those under precarious economic condition. So they go scouting for brides from outside the state,” says Subhash Sharma, a social activist. Earlier such marriages were frowned upon in villages and towns of Haryana but lately, there is a semblance of societal approval to these and they are fast becoming a discernible trend.Shockingly, the girls from the poor-source states are available to be trafficked for anything between Rs 4,000 to Rs 30,000 depending upon factors like their looks, age, virginity and in some cases the number of times the prospective bride has changed hands.Trafficking agentsThere is a network of agents operating in virtually every township of Haryana who facilitate such marriages with their linkages to similar agents operation in Delhi and in source states. Usually, the boy and his relatives go to the source state after establishing contact with the agents. Garlands are exchanged between the boy and the girl by way of a marriage ceremony, the price is paid either to the agent or her family and the girl is ready to resume her long, uncertain journey as a woman in an alien land. “Gross poverty, large families and lack of financial resources to marry the girl are some of the reasons that motivate parents of these girls to give away their daughters to the bidders coming to their villages,” says Raju from Saatroad village near Hansi, who has turned into a sort of agent for facilitating such marriages after his elder brother married a girl from Orissa.

The marriage of Meenu, his sister-in-law, was facilitated by her elder sister who was married five years ago to a man living in nearby Hisar. Hailing from Karkundi village in Orissa, the sisters come from a family of three daughters and two sons.“We had no choice. My father and brothers work as labourers. They could not have raised money for our dowry for a decent marriage. So, we accepted our fate to be married to men in Haryana,” she says shyly. However, she added she was settled happily in her new home.Raju and Meenu insist no money exchanged hands for her marriage. A young man of 21, Raju, himself is looking for a bride. When asked if he was looking for a local girl, Raju who works as a labourer laughs, “If anybody is ready to give their daughter away to me in marriage I will marry this evening. I know my status in society so I will have to look for a bride outside Haryana,” he says even as three other village youths accompanying him nod in agreement.There are 15 other girls from Orissa who are married to local men in the same village. Kiran, a mother of 25-day-old infant girl, says, “Initially it was difficult to adjust to local customs like pulling veil. Language was also a problem. But now I have adjusted.” Her mother-in-law says, “We never considered her as an outsider. She is part of the family. We had to marry our son to some girl, how does it matter if the girl hails from Orissa,” she asks. Other happily married girls form Orissa in the vicinity are Sunita and Renu. “My parents have visited me twice ever since I was married two years ago. I have no problems,” says Sunita.While Meenu, Sunita and Kiran make a perfect picture of a happy cross-cultural marriage, these cases are a rarity.

Shakuntla Jakhar, secretary of the Haryana chapter of All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) which has been closely monitoring the trend of procured brides in Haryana, says, “The bought brides face acute social isolation and cultural deprivation. Their status is devalued because they have been bought at a price and become source of laughter and disgrace. In many cases, the family members of her husband conspire to deny them or their children rights in the family property.”Another problem arises with respect to their legal status as wives since their marriages are never registered. “It lends them open to sexual exploitation by husband’s brothers, family members and friends,” says Jakhar. She has witnessed many cases where the bought brides are subjected to ill treatment by their drunkard husbands or his family members.She recalled an incident where a bought bride from Assam living in Hisar pleaded with her to get her divorced from her husband who used to beat her up daily. Gradually, over the years, she however got used to her new life and has settled with two kids.Run-away bridesWhile the business of bride trafficking goes on unabated, there are reports of unscrupulous agents seeping into the network who sell girls to prospective grooms and then engineer their escape within days of their marriage.

Twenty-eight-year-old Neki Ram of Hungara village near Fatehabad procured his wife from Jharkhand for Rs 33,000 in February this year. Twenty days later, she fled from his house at night taking away some cash and jewellery. Buan Singh, 35, paid Rs 40,000 to the agent to procure his Bihari wife. A month later, she left for Gurgaon on the plea of meeting her sister there but never returned. When Buan Singh approached his agent, he threatened him and demanded Rs 5000 more from him. Singh returned empty handed. “Some unscrupulous agents use the same girl to marry several men to make money,” says Raju.The role of the police and the administration in the bride trafficking business is characterised by aloofness and unconcern. “There is no role for us since the trafficking is for marriage. We cannot interfere in the life of a couple who is married unless there is a complaint,” says Vimla Ghirai, incharge of the Crime Against Women cell in Hisar. She claims she has never received any complaint of harassment at the cell from any trafficked bride.She recalled an incident at Jind though. “There was a complaint where the girl from Bihar married to a boy in Haryana claimed she had been forced into marriage by her aunt and brother. She came to us and the police intervened to ensure she went away safely. Her husband complained that he had paid Rs 70,000 to procure her, but nobody can force somebody to stay with him,” she said.

Shakuntla Sangwan of AIDWA says her organisation has been demanding from the administration to register all such marriages to accord them legal sanctity for the benefit of procured girls but there has been no response from the administration so far.As the sun sets down the horizon, a tired Kavita heads back to her shanty hut. Her thoughts meander away to her dilapidated home in West Bengal. ‘Is the life of procured wife any better than the struggles of a disturbed childhood?’ She muses. Exhausted by the day’s work, she hits the cot. She has no time to mull over her future.

Who killed the girls?

In February 2006, Tripala Kumari, an 18-year-old tribal girl from Ranchi was killed by her husband Ajmer Singh, a farmer in a village in the Jind district of Haryana. Her crime? She refused to sleep with his brothers.The tribal girl was brought to Haryana by an agent who promised to get her a job. She was “married” to Ajmer Singh who desperately wanted a male heir. However, soon after her marriage she found she was expected to sleep with all his brothers. When she refused, he killed her.The murder of Tripala Kumari gave a gruesome face to a form of sexual exploitation which has become increasingly popular in the women-starved states of Punjab and Haryana. The media has even given this kind of exploitation a name: The Draupadi Syndrome.Today, Kurukshetra, the great battle ground where the epic Mahabharata war was fought is part of Haryana. In the 2001 census report, it figured as one of the “top 10 districts with the lowest sex ratios” in the country.

In 2005, when I went to Punjab and Haryana to research Disappearing Daughters, my book on female foeticide, I was shocked to hear that the discarded tradition of forced fraternal polyandry, had come into vogue again because of the alarming decline in the population of women. A new dimension had been added to the problem. Because of the paucity of women within the community, tribal women and women from other states were bought and forced into such relationships. They were also forced to abort their female foetuses. It is happening in a big way in Gujarat, another prosperous state with an alarming sex skew. In Gujarat, I met an agent who specialised in getting Adivasi brides for Patel men. This agent scouted around for girls in many of the poorer districts of south Gujarat where the sex ratio in tribal areas was good. The Adivasis did not discriminate against women. They had different problems. Poverty and alcoholism had driven their communities to the brink. Families were more than willing to sell their girls, hoping perhaps that they would enter better lives in their new homes.According to one report, an estimated 150 agents and subagents were “bride trading” in Gujarat, using tribal girls. The going rate was around Rs 60,000 for a tribal bride and Rs 80,000 for a scheduled caste non-tribal girl.Families in these states justified female foeticide to me by saying that the world was an unsafe place for women. Daughters could get raped, ill-treated by in laws, assaulted by strangers. They had a ready list of ways in which their precious daughters could be violated.But to me, it seemed so ironic that these very men and women who were now accused of treating tribal girls like sexual slaves and son-bearing machines were the ones who said they did not want daughters because the world was an unsafe place for women!

As I researched my book, many middle class families came up with one more extraordinary justification for killing of their daughters before they were born. The status of women would actually improve, they said. As women became scarce, their value would increase and society would learn to respect them more. Nothing could be further from the truth. Forced polyandry, purchasing women as sex slaves and household chattels, female infanticide…could the status of women be worse? Gita Aravamudan(The writer is the author of ‘Disappearing Daughters, the tragedy of female foeticide’)

Marriage of convenience

Young women belonging to poor families of Kerala have never had qualms in looking beyond the state’s boundaries when it came to choosing husbands. This was not because of the unavailability of grooms in their hometowns or villages but because of the straitened circumstances in which they lived. However, the character of such cross-border marriages has changed over years. After Arabs (Arabi kalyanam) and grooms from Karnataka (Mysore Kalyanam) men are now coming in hordes from Haryana. Most of these men, who are not as educated as their prospective brides, travel down south to villages surrounding a sleepy town called Payyannur in Kannur district to find their match. “It just happened that one person from Kanayi village married a Haryanvi girl some eight years ago. Later, he arranged a match for his wife’s relative and this set off a series of alliances,” says Sreejith Paithal, a journalist of Kannur. “More than 100 women have found Haryanvi grooms in the past eight years. I found that many of the women were more or less happy in their new environs,” says researcher C K Viswanathan. “My father had an eye problem which kept him out of work for a long time and my mother was also jobless,” says Sreeja, the eldest of three sisters, who married Bhirbal Singh of Soukhi village. “My family could not afford to give dowry. So I opted for this marriage.”

The Haryanvi grooms do not demand dowry or matching horoscope. What is more, they even foot the marriage bill. “Kerala women are well-educated, have clean habits, take good care of the children and ensure a stable family,” Bhirbal Singh told Sunday Herald over phone from Soukhi in Haryana. However, it is not all hunky dory. The women, who grew up in a matrilineal society, are suddenly thrown into a male-dominated culture where they don’t enjoy as much freedom. There have been complaints that some of the women are being forced to undertake hard physical labour. “We have to monitor their situation,” says Viswanathan.

R Gopakumar in Thiruvananthapuram

The wage of innocence: Rs 1 for a kilo of foam

2007-08-04T00:01:00.000+05:30

14 BARABANKI CHILDREN RESCUED FROM A FACTORY IN KARNAL; ALL WERE EIGHT TO 13-YEAR-OLDS, FACTORY OWNERS FEIGNED IGNORANCE ABOUT THEIR AGE
Tarannum Manjul & Rajendra Khatry

Lucknow/Chandigarh,

August 1 Indian Express: Administration officers of Haryana conducted a raid at a foam factory in Karnal, Haryana on Wednesday and rescued 14 child workers — all from the Dhanauli and Narayanpur villages in Barabanki district, UP.

The factory, Bhagwati Enterprises Ltd in the Nissing block, employed these children in cutting foam and paid them Rs 1 for a kilogram. The factory owner Pramod Kumar and manager Sanjay Kumar, who told the Karnal police that they was not aware these children were minors, have been issued challans by the Labour Department under the Child Labour Act, Payment of Wages Act and the Payment of Gratuity Act.

NGO Shakti Vahini Sanstha, which is actively involved in child and women welfare, played an active role in the rescue of these children. Social worker Rishikant of the Shakti Vahini said the children had written a letter to a local Hindi daily in Karnal about their difficulties. “All children were in the age group of 8 to 13 years. The owner told us he could not distinguish their age though it was evident on their faces,” Rishikant said.

Deputy Commissioner of Karnal B S Malik said the children are at present in the Madhuban Bal Bhawan. “They will be sent to the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences in Rohtak tomorrow to ascertain their exact age. Most children want to go back home, so we have called their parents,” Malik said. It is learnt that a total of 22 children were rescued from the factory but 8 were let off because they looked over the age of 14 years. SDM of Karnal R K Singh was also present during the raid. Superintendent of Police, Karnal, A S Chawla said that two among these have families nearby. Sources in the Karnal district administration have also revealed these children were working in the factory for several months. Initially, one was brought from UP and then the others followed.

Meanwhile, Newsline has found that parents of these children were aware the kids were being sent off to work in Karnal. However, they thought the work would be good. Since these villages are under heavy floods, it was difficult to trace the parents. But one village pradhan Moinuddin defended the decision to send away the children. “The parents had no idea the children would be exploited in such a manner. We are waiting for the administration to contact us so that we can get back our children,” he said. A local NGO Pani has also assured that the children will reach their parents.

The district administration of Barabanki has been informed about the rescue. The Chairman of the Central Child Labour Welfare Board Ajit S Kataria said he will try and ensure they are back safely. Superintendent of Police in Barabanki Shachi Ghildyal said she will find out if an organised gang is operating in this child-trafficking business.

Former general secretary of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee Gyan Sohota has lauded the efforts of the district administration in rescuing the children. “Poverty forces children to work. But the society should be aware that child labour is a crime,” he said.

NHRC gets compliance report form States and UnionTerritories on Vishakha guidelines

2007-08-03T23:49:00.000+05:30

New Delhi July 30, 2007 All the States and the Union Territories have made necessary amendments in their conduct rules and regulations to implement the Supreme Court's guidelines on sexual harassment at the workplace.

The National Human Rights Commission, which had been supervising the implementation of the guidelines, has been given the compliance reports by all the States and Union Territories in this regard.

In the year 1997, the Supreme Court issued the Vishakha guidelines on sexual harassment at the workplace. The inception of the guidelines came about after Bhanwari Devi, a 50-year-old social worker in Rajasthan fought the practice of child marriage as a part of her job as saathin in the villages. The upper castes were taken aback by the action of Bhanwari Devi who challenged their tradition, despite belonging to a lower caste. Five men from the upper caste family of the child gangraped her in the presence of her husband. To add to her miseries the village authorities, the police and doctors all dismissed her situation and the trial court acquitted the accused. Appalled at the blatant injustice and inspired by Bhanwari Devi's unrelenting spirit, saathins and women's groups all over the country launched a concerted campaign to bring her justice. They filed a petition in the Supreme Court under the collective platform of Vishakha, asking the court to take action against sexual harassment faced by women in the workplace. The result was the Supreme Court judgment of 1997, popularly known as the Vishakha guidelines.

According to the Supreme Court guidelines, sexual harassment includes any unwelcome physical contact or advances; demands or requests for sexual favours; sexually-coloured remarks; displays of pornography; other unwelcome physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct of sexual nature.

The judgment created mandatory sexual harassment prevention guidelines for the workplace, applicable all over India. All employers or responsible heads of institutions must institute certain rules of conduct and take preventive measures to stop sexual harassment in the workplace. The guidelines direct employers to set up complaints committees within the organization, through which women can make their complaints heard. These complaints committees must be headed by women, and at least half its members should be women. To prevent undue pressure from within the organization, the committee should include a third-party representative from a non-governmental organization or other individual, conversant with the issue of sexual harassment.

The National Human Rights Commission took up the issue and consulted with government departments, private institutions/agencies as well as NGOs with a view to set up a complaint mechanism. The Commission supervised the implementation of the guidelines and the norms of the Supreme Court and now has the compliance report from all the States and the Union Territories.

India developing first anti-sexual harassment law

2007-08-03T23:48:00.000+05:30

ndia's government is tackling criticism on all sides while trying to create its first-ever legislation to stop sexual harassment at work.

The proposed law aims to put an end to everything form dirty jokes to physical abuse. However, some critics say the law is too flimsy while others say it's open to abuse.

The proposed law, which parliament will review when it resumes later this month, states "gestures of a sexual nature whether verbal, textual, physical, graphic or electronic" are "unwelcome conduct."

However, the law would only apply to women working in the organized sector, which includes factories, hotels, airlines, textile mills, parts of the farm sector and offices.

Of India's hundreds of millions of working women, only 1.5 million are considered part of this formal sector.

hrreporter.com,

August 2, 2007

The majority (89 per cent) of the 270 million workers in India's unorganized sector are women and this law wouldn't afford them any protections, said Jaya Arunachalam, a prominent Indian feminist.

While the law won't cover all working women, sexual harassment is rife in India's organized sector. In 2005, Indian air force pilot Anjali Gupta was court-martialed for misconduct after she accused three superiors of sexually harassing her. The year before, three trainees were fired when they levelled similar charges.

The proposal would offer victims leave from work, transfers if they wish and compensation from money deducted from the salaries of their abusers.

Men's rights groups, including the Save Family Foundation and the Protect Indian Family group, say that the law would open to rampant misuse and that some women would exploit the legislation to further their career.

DRAFT GUIDELINES FOR SPEEDY DISPOSAL OF CHILD RAPE CASES- NHRC

2007-08-03T23:41:00.000+05:30

DRAFT GUIDELINES FOR SPEEDY DISPOSAL OF CHILD RAPE CASES.

www.nhrc.nic.in

(i) The complaint relating to child rape cases shall be recorded promptly as well as accurately. The complaint can be filed by the victim or an eyewitness or anyone, including a representative of non-governmental organization, who has received information of the commission of the offence. The case should be taken as follows:

a) Officer not below the rank of SI and preferably lady police officer.

b) Recording should be verbatim

c) Person recording to be in civil dress

d) Recording should not be insisted in police station, it can be at the residence of the victim.

(ii) If the complainant is the child victim, then it is of vital importance that the reporting officer must ensure that the child victim is made comfortable before proceeding to record the complaint. This would help in ensuring accurate narration of the incident covering all relevant aspects of the case. If feasible, assistance of psychiatrist should be taken;

(iii) The Investigating Officer shall ensure that medical examination of the victim of sexual assault and the accused is done preferably within 24 hours in accordance with Cr. PC Sec. 164 A. Instruction be issued that the Chief Medical Officer ensures the examination of victim immediately on receiving request from I.O. The gynecologist, while examining the victim should ensure recording the history of incident;

(iv) Immediately after the registration of the case, the investigation team shall visit the scene of crime to secure whatever incriminating evidence is available there. If there are tell-tale signs of resistance by the victim or use of force by the accused those should be photographed;

(v) The Investigation Officer shall secure the clothes of the victim as well as the clothes of the accused, if arrested, and send them within 10 days for forensic analysis to find out whether there are traces of semen and also obtain report about the matching of blood group and if possible DNA profiling;

(vi) The forensic lab should analyze the evidences on priority basis and send report within couple of months;

(vii) The investigation of the case shall be taken up by an officer not below the rank of S.I. on priority basis and, as far as possible, investigation shall invariably be completed within 90 days of registration of the case. Periodical supervision should be done by senior officers to ensure proper and prompt investigation;

(viii) Wherever desirable, the statement of the victims u/s 164 Cr. PC shall be recorded expeditiously;

(ix) Identity of the victim and the family shall be kept secret and they must be ensured of protection. IOs / NGOs to exercise more caution of the issue.

TRIAL COURT

i) Fast Track courts preferably presided over by a lady judge and trial to be held in camera;

ii) Atmosphere in the court should be child friendly;

iii) If possible, the recordings be done in video conferencing / in conducive manner so that victim is not subjected to close proximity of accused;

iv) Magistrate should commit case to session within 15 days after the filing of the charge sheet.

NDIA: NGO rescues 115 child labors

2007-08-03T23:20:00.000+05:30

JAIPUR: A Rajasthan based NGO, Dakshin Rajasthan Mazdoor Union, has rescued 115 children who were about to be sent to Gujarat to work in cotton factories.

The child laborers were rescued from Udaipur, about 500 km from here by a team of the Dakshin Rajasthan Mazdoor Union, an advocacy group working for migrant laborers.

Most of the children belong to poor tribal families. "These children were rescued by us when they were being sent to cotton factories of Gujarat, especially in Ahmedabad and Disa," Meenakshi Paliwal, an official of the NGO.

According to a study by the union, at least 100,000 children from Rajasthan's tribal belt are employed in the cotton fields of Gujarat. The study said that about 50 percent of the labourers employed in the cotton fields come from four tribal districts of south Rajasthan, Dungarpur, Banswara, Udaipur and Sirohi, which border Gujarat. It also revealed that about 35 percent families send their children for cotton works.

The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 bans employment of children below 14 years in specified fields which are considered unsafe and harmful to children.

However, the practice goes on uninhibited across the country.

‘Take social offences out of criminal law’

2007-08-03T23:16:00.000+05:30

A home Ministry-appointed committee has asked the government to decriminalise social offences like campus indiscipline and minor marriage offences and hold summary trials for other minor offences to enable the over-burdened criminal justice system stand straight on its feet.

In one stroke, this would reduce the number of cases out of the formal criminal justice system by nearly 40 per cent, said Professor RN Madhava Menon, chairman of the committee tasked to formulate a policy paper for the national policy on criminal justice.

“Minor marriage offences, which are more of civil in nature, can well be part of social welfare offences,” the report, handed over to the Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil on Wednesday, said. Offences classified under this code should be entrusted to agencies other than the police; reparation should be the objective rather than punishment.

The committee had toyed with the idea of identifying adultery as one offence that could be struck out from the Indian Penal Code six months ago. Menon hinted there was no unanimity on this count. Mohan Dayal Rijhwani, a Mumbai-based lawyer who was on the panel, had spoken out against adultery remaining on the statute as an offence at the committee deliberations.

“It is for the lawmakers to decide which of the existing offences should be so changed and when,” the report said.

India has a controversial adultery law that lays down a five-year jail term for men; women, however, are not punished. A suggestion to treat men and women at par several months ago had run into opposition from bodies like the National Commission for Women.

Sentencing guidelines

The committee has also supported the concept of federal offences to be investigated by a national agency and called for formulation of sentencing guidelines to ensure that judges have lesser discretion in sentencing jail terms for convicts.

Menon referred to the perception that actor Sanjay Dutt had been handed out a harsh sentence, saying this happened due to the absence of sentencing guidelines. For a similar offence committed under similar circumstances, Menon said it was possible that two judges sentence a convict to different periods. It is arbitrary, the committee acknowledged, suggesting that judges did not have any special expertise in determining the length of jail term. Other members in the committee included former secretary, internal security, in Home Ministry, Anil Chowdhury and Kamal Kumar, former director, National Police Academy.

TODAY'S EDITORIAL: Say It In Writing

2007-08-03T23:09:00.000+05:30

What's the next step after getting married? If the Supreme Court has its way, it will be a visit to the marriage registrar's office. It has hauled up states that have been tardy in framing rules for compulsory registration of marriages. The censure follows a judgment last year where the apex court said that all Indian citizens, irrespective of religion, must register their marriages.

At present, only the Special Marriage Act makes it mandatory for a couple to register their marriage with a government registrar. The Hindu Marriage Act has provisions for registration but it is left to the discretion of the couple. The Act also directs state governments to frame rules with regard to registration if they so desire.

The Indian Christian Marriage Act too has provisions for registration, but it is only recorded in the church where the marriage takes place. Under Muslim Personal Law, there is no necessity to register marriages.

It is evident that there is no uniformity with regard to registration of marriages. The court's decision to step in was mainly prompted by arguments made by the National Commission for Women. The commission said in an affidavit that compulsory registration would help prevent child marriages, check bigamy, ensure the rights of divorced women and deter men from deserting their wives. Whether registration of marriages itself would check all these evils is doubtful. Those who want to evade the law might simply choose not to register.

However, registration, if strictly enforced, would at least act as a deterrent to those involved in illegal activities such as child marriage.

The court's judgment is well intentioned but it opens up a can of worms for those inclined to be suspicious. Compulsory registration of marriages, regardless of religion, could be interpreted as a small step towards uniformity of marriage laws.

The sensitivity of the issue is apparent from the fact that most states have framed registration laws for Hindus alone, ignoring minority religions. State governments are particularly wary of annoying Muslims who might view compulsory registration as an encroachment on their personal law. Only two states, West Bengal and Orissa, claim to have followed the Supreme Court's order.

Such apprehensions, however, are unjustified. Compulsory registration doesn't infringe on any of the current laws governing marriage. If registration is enforced, Muslims or Christians, who have married under their personal laws, will still follow the same rules for divorce or the number of marriages permitted. Community representatives ought to cooperate in ensuring compulsory registration of marriages.

In Orissa, boys too suffer foeticide

2007-08-03T23:05:00.000+05:30

In Nayagarh, Orissa, it is not only the girl child who is destined to land up in the dustbin before she is born but the boy child as well.

Parents wanting to get rid of the foetuses of their girl children are duped into losing boys too, according to an inquiry conducted by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights in the state’s Nayagarh area recently. Of the 137 foetuses found by the district administration, some of them were of boys.

Said Sandhya Bajaj, member of the inquiry committee: “In their (doctors’) lust to make money, the parents were misled about the sex of the child.”

Most ultrasound machines in Nayagarh are of poor quality and incapable of revealing the gender of the foetus in early stages of pregnancy, Bajaj said. Doctors often lied about the sex of the child, thereby prevailing upon unsuspecting parents to opt for abortions, she added.

Inspections found that six clinics did not even have the mandatory license to operate ultrasound machines under the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Technique Act.

Some private clinics were found running a campaign against girl children. The message was that it is better to spend Rs 5,000 on an abortion now rather than Rs 5 lakh on a girl child's marriage later.

The well-oiled racket involved dumping foetuses into a man-made well to which chemicals were added for faster decomposition," Bajaj said.

The two government doctors were found to advise expectant mothers to their private clinics for sex determination tests.

Recommending strict action against the doctors, the panel has asked the Orissa government to conduct a survey across the state to determine how many private nursing homes are involved in the racket.

Finding a father: A real life detective story

2007-08-03T23:04:00.000+05:30

Chennai, July 17 (IANS) There were tears in everyone's eyes, including hardened crime investigators, when a deaf and dumb father made noises on a telephone that his daughter in the Gulf recognised even after 24 long years of separation.

The case of 32-year-old Nazeema from Tamil Nadu, now living in Saudi Arabia, is what one would call a typical case of child trafficking.

Nazeema's mother died when she was born. Her grandmother raised her and her two elder siblings while her deaf and dumb father worked part time to support the family. He often carried her piggyback to school.

But in 1984, Nazeema was picked up by some women relatives and sold to a couple in Chennai, to work in their house as a maid.

The husband and wife were both police personnel and cruel. Nazeema ran away after two years and was on Chennai's streets soon.

Luckily for Nazeema, a Mysore Brahmin family found her. They raised her as one of their own, educated her and married her to a young entrepreneur from her own community.

Nazeema soon went away to Saudi Arabia with her husband Sayad. But she was haunted by memories of her loving father, sisters and the home she once lived in with her grandmother.

R. Vardharaj, who runs the detective agency that helped reunite Nazeema and her father, said: 'It was when she was giving birth to her first child, she said that she first acutely felt the need for her parents to be near her.'

Nazeema's tears made Sayad contact the Chennai police and Vardharaj's detective agency.

Vardharaj said it was very difficult to trace Nazeema's roots. She remembered that the place she had lived in was Anna Nagar and her elder sister worked in a handloom unit.

For 10 days, Vardharaj and his men looked for a person called Ibrahim Sherrif, Nazeema's deaf and dumb father, in Kancheepuram -- the textile hub of Tamil Nadu. It was a Herculean task that ended with no leads.

'I then started looking for the police couple in Chennai. Nazeema recalled the man's name. I contacted around 50 police stations in and around Chennai to find out if anyone knew of a constable whose wife was also in the police force.

'Finally, in one police station we got information that there was a sub-inspector of such a description who had retired a few years ago. His wife was still in the force,' Vardharaja said.

'We were told that they lived in Royapetah area of Chennai. It was a very delicate operation. One cannot barge into a man's house and accuse him of mistreating a maidservant 24 years ago.

'We questioned the grocery shops on every street in the area until we found the shop from where they bought grocery and the street where they lived,' he said.

Nazeema's former employer said his dead sister-in-law had found them the maid.

He remembered that there were two other women with his sister-in-law when she had brought Nazeema and one of the women had a son. The detective agency found the son.

Through him they traced an 80-year-old woman who was Nazeema's relative. She finally admitted to having sold Nazeema to the couple.

The agency then traced her father Ibrahim Sherrif, who works in a teashop in Arcot, 150 km north of Chennai. Vardharaj telephoned Nazeema June 20 to tell her that her father had been found.

By mid-August Nazeema is expected to be in India, with her children, to meet her father.

'Sherrif is so poor and handicapped, no one would own him easily. It is amazing to see his daughter happy to find him and wanting to look after him, 24 years after being lost and separated from him,' said Vradharaj.

According to a 2006 study conducted by the NGO Shakti Vahini, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu are the states from where the maximum numbers of people are trafficked.

No childhood for millions in India

2007-08-03T23:01:00.000+05:30

July 20: Despite various promises by the government in the form of welfare schemes and laws, future (children) of this country is in dark due to innumerous problems having no platform to speak for them except some NGOs taking them seriously.

Initiatives of the government fail to be of much help as implementation of the projects like other fields falls a victim to corruption and lack of will on the part of administration.

UNESCO’s revelation about the status of children in India is a shame to the country who has enough resources at her disposal. According to UN estimates, 72 million children in India do not have access to education and India would not be able to provide education to all children even till 2015 while India boasts of 93% enrolment in schools at present and to achieve 100% till 2010.

Education is not alone in the list of problems children facing in India. Its brethrens are increasing violence against children, lack of health facilities rendering them vulnerable to chronic diseases, child labour and child trafficking apart from prostitution.

UNICEF report says that more than 500 million children do not have access to proper shelter better it is to say that they are homeless and a bit less to safe drinking water.

There is no provision of health care facilities for 270 million children. India also harbours the highest number of street children, the largest number of children suffering from malnutrition. Report says that healthy life is still a dream for millions of little souls. A huge number do not receive immunity from diseases.

About 6.6 million suffer from iodine deficiency leading to the brain damage. The national family health survey says that 70% children of India suffer from iron deficiency. There are 1,70,000 children affected by AIDS/HIV having none to care and most neglected in society.

As far as the education is concerned official accounts are termed as ‘statistic illusion’. Non-demarcation of the age group inflates the ratio of enrolment of children. Actual ratio figures out to be only 75-78% keeping hell lot of children out of school.

A survey revealed that increasing drop out rates and low retention rate neutralize the enrolment ratio.

India has become a place where environment for children is not safe. Several examples can be cited in support of the argument. Nithari case putting a question mark on the safety of the children reflects the violence being perpetrated on innocent beings.

Today children are becoming the objects of murder, rape, abduction and these crimes are not confined to only poor ones but permeate to even middle and higher class children.

Crime rate against children is increasing by 3.8% annually according to the NHRC report. Every year 45,000 children go missing out of whose 11000 are never traced.

Children are not safe either in their homes, work places or on the streets.

Children’s number turns out to be the largest as victims of human trafficking. It is not very infrequent that we come across the news of selling of babies in newspapers. Children are the worst affected by this heinous crime. There is neither any child protection cover nor the issue has ever been addressed on legislation level.

Child labour is a termite which is slowly eating our millions. Laws are available to cure this disease but what is most needed is their strict application by the implementing agencies.

For lack of any basic amenity such as education, health, healthy social environment, most of these homeless souls are abused physically, emotionally without any protection cover for them.

It is still not too late to save their childhood. What we need first and foremost is the awareness about their plight and their rights as a child. And as is directed by the Supreme Court too we should promise them a dignified existence.

Central monitoring commission’s suggestion to have juvenile police unit in every police station can be followed to prevent the crimes against children. And a protection mechanism on community level should be evolved as is often suggested by child rights activists. Children are asset of a country and their condition is a mirror of the nation’s social, economic condition.

Global Solution Needed to Eradicate Human Trafficking, Says Expert

2007-08-03T22:59:00.000+05:30

By Micheline R. Millar

HUMAN TRAFFICKING today is a multi-billion dollar industry and a major human rights concern that requires the collective effort of the global community to be successfully eradicated, according to a senior official of the United Nations Development Fund for Women.

“The U.S. Justice Department ranks human trafficking as the third largest criminal enterprise worldwide, generating an estimated $9.5 billion per year in terms of profit,” the fund’s Executive Director Noeleen Heyzer said during a recent lecture on gender, migration and human trafficking, hosted by the Asian Development Bank.

Trafficking of persons includes prostitution, debt bondage, forced labor and slavery, and exploitation of children as workers, soldiers or sex slaves, said Heyzer. Data from the International Labor Organization show that the migrant population currently stands at 120 million, of which around 12.3 million are enslaved in forced or bonded labor or sexual servitude at any one time, she said.

The magnitude of the human trafficking problem facing the world today has prompted the Group of 8 countries to issue a communiqué identifying the phenomenon as the dark side of globalization, she said.

“Population movements, whether voluntary or forced, are not new. What has changed in our world today is the regulation, as national borders and their control are tightening. Those who fail to meet entry criteria become illegal, giving rise to people smuggling and trafficking. And this has in turn increased the involvement of organized crime,” she said.

Heyzer traced the dramatic growth in migration and trafficking flows to so-called “push and pull” factors. Push factors would include uneven economic growth, war and armed conflict, natural disasters, high levels of gender inequality, and family violence. Prosperity and stability in medium and high growth countries and regions act as pull factors creating increased demand for imported labor in what Heyzer termed as the “global workplace.”

Migrant workers are cast under two categories: highly skilled professionals demanded by the new global economy and technologies; and the much larger group composed of semi-skilled and unskilled workers willing to take low wages, insecurity and dangerous work, said Heyzer.

“We need to understand and realize that many people are not sharing in the benefits of globalization,” she said, noting that despite the expanding global economy, the concentration of wealth remains with a few. “The figures I have is that the richest 2% of the global adult population today owns half of global wealth, whilst the bottom half of the world’s population in fact owns barely 1%,” she lamented.

The Asia Pacific region is an example of such lopsided distribution of resources, said Heyzer. The region includes countries with some of the world’s highest growth and some of the worst poverty, the highest human development with some of the deepest and greatest exploitation and deprivation, she pointed out.

While the number of people in the region who live on less than $1 a day had fallen from 31% to 20% from 1990 to 2001, the decline masks significant difference among subregions and in the local setting, said Heyzer. China and India account for much of the region’s economic expansion, but they also harbor deep pockets of poverty and regional differences, she said.

“Globalization has obviously opened up new opportunities for those with skills, with capital, but at the same time, it has also shut down employment and livelihood options for those without them, especially in some of the poorer countries and in the rural areas that have failed to compete in the global marketplace,” said Heyzer.

Despite the dismal circumstances often facing migrants in the global marketplace, Heyzer noted that the wages and conditions that are substandard in rich and middle-income nations still prove alluring compared to those in poorer countries. This is especially true in the case of trafficked women, who continue to persevere despite suffering from human rights violations as they see themselves as able to solve some of the urgent economic problems faced by their families back home.

“In today’s world, we do not need to have this situation, and it is not acceptable, to have a crisis of survival where the only way out for a family to survive is by trafficking their daughters,” said Heyzer.

As long as capital but not labor can move freely across borders, illegal migration and trafficking will remain rampant. International norms and standards have been established in the past in an effort to arrest such a trend. “But if rights are to be meaningful they must be claimed by those who hold them. In other words people should know that they have these rights, and very often you find that people who are supposed to have rights did not know that they have these rights,” she said.

Heyzer proposed several measures to help mitigate human trafficking. One is to make it difficult for traffickers to operate with impunity by raising their cost to operate. “It’s unfortunate that there’s still a lot of impunity over such crimes especially with some of the local corruption of officials and high placed government personalities,” she said.

Another measure is to raise public awareness of this form of human rights violation and create public outrage so that people will be discouraged from using goods and services provided by traffickers and recruiters, said Heyzer. The same way as sex abusers of children are identified, so too should human traffickers, even if such a measure may be deemed controversial by some sectors, she said.

“Many of the people are trafficked because they are provided with basically false information. They are promised a different kind of work and they end up with something else,” said Heyzer. “Ultimately, the problems created by the global phenomena, such as migration and trafficking, require a global solution. And in an age that has been marked by a huge upsurge of rhetoric about human rights and women’s rights, a global solution must match this with implementation and with accountability. We need to accelerate seriously this work to end discrimination and gender inequality.”

Trafficking of persons includes prostitution, debt bondage, forced labor, slavery, and exploitation of children as workers, soldiers or sex slaves.

© 2007 Asian Development Bank

Police told to see prostitutes as victims

2007-08-03T22:56:00.000+05:30

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Police must treat prostitutes as victims rather than criminals and crack down instead on clients and human traffickers who force women and children to sell their bodies, activists said on Wednesday.

Hundreds of thousands of women and girls in India are kidnapped, sold, coerced or trafficked for sex in a highly organised, yet illicit trade which is the world's third most lucrative after arms and drugs.

But activists say that while the children and young women are often trapped in slave-like situations, unable to free themselves from their pimps and brothel owners, police treat them as criminals while the real perpetrators get away.

"Hundreds of thousands of victims are invisible and are kept in captivity and have no access to any justice system whatsoever," said Ruchira Gupta, director of Apne Aap Women Worldwide, a local charity working against human trafficking.

"On the other hand, the perpetrators of this crime -- the profiteers and buyers that constitute the demand for human trafficking -- are visible and work with impunity."

In India, trafficking and profiting by selling a person for sex is illegal, but paying for sex with a prostitute is not unless she is under 18-years-old.

Almost 6,000 cases of trafficking were registered in 2005, but activists say the real number is much higher and on the rise.

Activists say that women are easy targets for police to arrest and round up in brothel raids and on street corners and police rarely investigate or arrest brothel owners or pimps.

Experts, speaking at the launch of a handbook to help police better enforce human trafficking laws, said police needed to understand the issue better.

"The real problem is not the absence of a legal infrastructure, but the importance of those that are empowered to impose the law to know what to do," said Gary Lewis, South Asia representative of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime.

According to the International Labour Organisation, 2.45 million people worldwide are exploited and treated like slaves every year, and another 1.2 million people are trafficked.

Lewis said that, according to some estimates, the global trade in human trafficking generated around $32 billion a year.

Home Minister critical of international focus of trafficking in India

2007-08-03T22:54:00.000+05:30

PTI , India

Critical of the international assessment of the extent of trafficking of women and children in India, Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil has said the problem here was not bigger than that in other countries.

"It has been necessary for us to say there is a problem (of trafficking) in India. But to think that it is bigger than in other countries is not correct," Patil said in his inaugural address at a national consultation on preventing and combating human trafficking in New Delhi.

"We have to take into consideration the number of human beings in India when talking about the extent of the problem. However, even one case is not acceptable to us," he said, noting the problem should be seen in the correct perspective.

Patil's comments come in the backdrop of the US placing India in the Tier-2 list of countries where human trafficking is a matter of concern.

The Minister, addressing the 'National Consultation on Preventing and Combating Human Trafficking of Human Beings with Special Focus on Women and Children', said the problem of human trafficking in India has been discussed on a large scale at the international level.

"Human trafficking takes place in India, but the scale (as per international community) is not correct," Patil said.

"Many times, we have discussed the issue in the Ministry and with dignitaries coming from other countries," he said.

He, however, added that India needs to pay more attention to the issue than it has been so far.

Curbing women trafficking jointly

2007-08-03T22:49:00.000+05:30

The News Karachi

The government of India has offered to conduct relevant training programmes aimed at capacity building for all the stakeholders of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) member states.

This was decided during the first meeting of the Regional Task Force in New Delhi, India, on July 26 to implement SAARC conventions relating to the trafficking of women and children. This was stated by Advocate Zia Awan who represented Pakistan at the meeting.

Elucidating, he said that Saarc member states would exchange information on best practices by their respective governments, NGOs and members of civil society to combat trafficking of women and children. This information would be exchanged through the Saarc Secretariat website, which would be uploaded by October 2007 and thereinafter annually.

The delegations agreed to consider developing uniform toll-free numbers, wherever applicable, to assist victims in the region. The members also decided to develop a Standard of Operating Procedure (SOP) to implement various provisions of the Saarc Convention, including reporting under Article VIII (5) and repatriation of victims of trafficking.

A draft SOP would be circulated by the Indian government to all member states through the Saarc Secretariat by the end of September. Earlier, Saarc members had signed two landmark conventions relating to trafficking in January 2002 that were ratified in November 2005.

It was pointed out during the meeting that the failure of a legal system at the national and international level and non-availability of witnesses against traffickers makes prosecution difficult, which is why the trade is going strong.

It was thus decided that a joint initiative should be taken to curb the trade or at least minimise the “potential risk factor” and agony of the victims. The meeting recognised the increasing role and importance of NGOs and members of the civil society in addressing the needs and requirements of victims of trafficking, which is a thriving trade in the South Asian region.

2007-07-11T12:10:00.000+05:30

MISSING CHILDREN
THE BUSINESS OF ADOPTION, TEHELKA JULY 7
Sanjay Dubey finds that instead of restoring lost children to their parents, the capital’s adoption homes are selling them Four-year-old Mohit is lucky. A distant relative, who wanted to settle a score with his parents Prem Sagar and Arti, kidnapped Mohit on May 10 and abandoned him at the Old Delhi railway station. Fortunately, he was rescued and sent to the Delhi Council for Child Welfare, a private adoption agency better known by its other name, Palna.
A frantic Sagar traced his boy to Palna and reached there on the morning of May 11. The officials there were extremely uncooperative. The parents were not allowed to meet their son. “After hours of waiting and pleading, Mohit was finally shown only to my wife and that too from a distance of some 10-15 yards,” says Sagar.
As the weekend fell over the next two days, Palna officials flatly told the parents that they could take Mohit home only on Monday, three days later. “They again refused to entertain us on Monday. We then had to go to the juvenile court, which directed us to the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) in Kingsway Camp,” Sagar told Tehelka.
The government has established CWCs all over the country for the welfare of children who need care and protection. CWC’s are vested with judicial powers and on CWC’s orders and the intervention of some good Samaritans, Mohit was finally restored to his family on May14.
In Mohit’s case Palna disregarded two cardinal rules spelled out in the Juvenile Justice Act (JJA).
»It is mandatory for the police or Childline (a centralised number for missing kids 1098) or any voluntary organisation to produce a missing child before a CWC.
»Every effort should be made to restore the child to his or her biological parents.
Over 34,000 children have gone missing in Delhi in the last 20 years (as per National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data). Most of them aren’t as fortunate as Mohit. In last three years alone, 6,687 children in Delhi have been declared untraceable by the Crime Branch’s Missing Persons Squad. A senior Department of Social Welfare (DSW) official lays the blame for this on voluntary adoption agencies. “They are fated to live either an orphan’s or an adopted child’s life, all thanks to various voluntary organisations,” he says.
Mohit’s is just one instance of how rules under the Juvenile Justice Act (JJA) and Central Adoption Resource Agency (CARA) guidelines to help missing, abandoned and runaway children are routinely ignored. Instead of providing them a ray of hope, adoption agencies only add to their misery.

CHILD PLAY

34,000 children have been reported missing in Delhi in the last 20 years
6,687 children have been declared untraceable between 2004 and 2006
200 Indian couples are waitlisted on an average with each agency. Non-Indians are still preferred
Rs 10,000 is the maximum amount non-Indian couples can be charged for adopting a child
Rs 2,00,000 is the minimum amount non-Indians pay to adopt an Indian child
Rs 20,000 is the average amount paid by Indian couples to adopt a child. By law they should just pay for the expenses

Confidential reports on the functioning of adoption agencies issued by DSW and accessed by Tehelka reveal how Palna routinely flouts norms and rules. A 2005 DSW report states, “Childline and the police are unduly helping the agency [Palna] in procuring children for it in violation of statutory provisions.” It calls Palna’s style of functioning “whimsical, arbitrary and manipulated.”
The report also charges Palna with not presenting children before the CWC or the police. “Why did Palna receive them [the children] and keep them without producing them before the committee. The matter requires to be taken up with the Commissioner of Police,” it says.
The report also says that Palna charges an arbitrary amount of money from people who adopt children — both Indians and foreigners. “All this also reveals how the police and Childline are flouting the statutory and mandatory provisions of JJA, and putting the welfare and fate of innocent children at stake at the hands of such agency [Palna].”
Adoption agencies ignore the poor in the list of prospective parents since they can’t cough up enough moneyAt the time there were 10 placement agencies for orphans and abandoned or lost children in Delhi (eight of those continue to operate) and, according to the DSW’s confidential reports, their style of functioning is not very different from Palna’s. “Further investigation of these organisations revealed that they are not providing any social service to anyone,” says another report. “They are getting children through legal or illegal means and are selling them in the market. The foreigners give higher prices therefore they prefer to sell them to the foreigners.”
Clause 4.35 of CARA guidelines unambiguously states that an adoption agency must be run on a non-profit basis and it shouldn’t look to make money from adoption. Documents with Tehelka show that recognised adoption agencies such as the Church of North India, Welfare Home for Children and Palna, among others, charge about Rs 20,000 on an average from Indians, instead of just the amount to take care of expenses. The guidelines specify that foreigners can be charged a maximum of Rs 10,000 but they routinely have to pay lakhs of rupees.
Clearly, adoption is a lucrative business. This could explain why organisations don’t make any special efforts to restore children to their biological parents, and why children are not produced before the CWC.
The reports also point out that adoption agencies ignore prospective parents in the waiting list who are poor and unable to cough up a high sum of money. SC and CARA guidelines also specify that Indians have to be given preference over foreigners for adoption, but despite there being a long queue of hopeful Indian adoptive parents, adoption agencies do the opposite and prefer foreign nationals seeking to adopt children.
The JJA states that before putting up a child for adoption, the adoption agency must publish his particulars in at least four leading newspapers, of which two must be in regional languages. But “private adoption agencies … have resorted to just a farcical eyewash, by publishing their self proclaimed names and self estimated dates of birth without any photograph, that too only of a few children, in some less popular newspapers, off and on only.” The report says that the agencies do this, “to avoid finding their natural parents.” Commenting on this a CWC member asks, “How can parents recognise their offspring by such an absurd publication which does not even have the child’s correct name ?”
“Most private agencies seldom prepare child histories, in total disregard of the directives of the Supreme Court. Such history sheets could help in tracing the natural parents of a lot of children… These agencies have thus separated innumerous (sic) children from their natural homes… in their urge to mint money through adoptions.”
Had Mohit’s parents not reached Palna, says a senior DSW official, “he would have been in Palna for months without the required effort to trace his family. The agency then would have secured a release order — mandatory to give a child in adoption — from the CWC, finally to give him to a total stranger in return for a huge amount of money.”
This, sources say, is the fate of most children found alone in Delhi. But, what has happened to the reports prepared by some honest DSW officers? “There were all sorts of pulls and pressure on the then director of DSW, Jitendra Narayan, as these agencies are run by very powerful people. Narayan, was ultimately transferred and the new dispensation, after sitting on the matter for a whole year, did nothing more than giving a mild warning to all the organisations,” says a DSW official.
» Writer’s e-mail: sanjay@tehelka.com

Human trafficking- Poverty the bane

2007-07-04T20:20:00.000+05:30

Central Chronicle, Bhopal

Human trafficking has been a big problem in many parts of the world and specially in India and many other Asian countries. The UN Protocol Against Trafficking in Persons, in effect since December 2003 makes human trafficking a crime. The Protocol has been signed and ratified by more than 110 countries, yet the participating governments and their criminal justice systems have not effectively curbed the practice. Few criminals are convicted and most victims are not properly rehabilitated.
Trafficking in persons has mainly been for sexual exploitation or forced labour and, according to reports of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNDOC), 127 countries get exploited among 137 nations. Some 2.5 million people throughout the world are at any given time recruited, entrapped, transported and exploited--a process called human trafficking. The UN and other experts estimate the total market value of illicit human trafficking at $32 billion; about $10 billion is derived from the sale of individuals and the remainder representing the estimate profits from the activities or goods produced by the victims of this barbaric crime.
Apart from slavery is booming international trade and involves both the sexes. The most important aspect of human trafficking is of women and girls, 80 per cent of whom, as per UNDOC data, are forced into prostitution. The other reasons for women and children being trafficked are: labour in garment, carpet and other industries/ factories/work sites; work in the entertainment industry, including bars, massage parlours etc; forced labour in construction sites; sex tourism; drug trafficking; organ trade; and domestic work.
Poverty, lack of opportunities and the desire for better existence have been the principal reasons for the increase in human trafficking and sexual exploitation in Third World countries. It is distressing to note that the trafficked victim is subject to the worst form of human rights abuses--physical violence, sexual abuse, confinement, denial of basic needs of health and nutrition, deprivation of earnings etc.
In India, the problem of trafficking has suddenly received much attention with even politicians being engaged in this work. However, trafficking has been a long-standing problem in this region, specially in countries like Nepal, Bangladesh Thailand and India. The spread of consumerism and western life styles in society along widening inequality among the urban and the rural sectors have accentuated the problem at least in the Asian countries.
The problems in populous countries like India are well known which have a stagnant rural sector with all-round poverty and squalor very much manifest. Moreover the discrimination of the girl child has been another aspect of the problem. Apart from the desire to make the girl child work by the parents, the passion of girls (generally aged between 15 and 25 years) to live a better existence induces them to be trafficked. They generally enter the flesh trade or are used in hotels for entertaining clients, whether in India or abroad.
It is not that girls only from the poorer sections of society that become prone to abuse and sexual exploitation. It has been found that girls and women from the middle or even upper class in their quest to earn more become prone to human trafficking. In today's world, prostitution has attained a new dimension whereby sharing a bed is not taboo. Thus well-off girls starting with such practise eventually become prone to trafficking.
Meanwhile the Centre has come out with startling revelations on child abuse, mainly of girls, according to a national survey. More than 53 per cent of children have been found to be subjected to sexual abuse in ways that ranged from rape to kissing. Apart from this, 69 per cent of children faced physical abuse, in most cases (89 per cent) from parents or members of the family. These and many other things were revealed by the 13-state survey report Study on Child Abuse: India 2007 conducted by the Ministry of Women & Child Development in association with UNICEF, Save the Children and Prayas and released recently. This was incidentally the first-ever nation-wide survey on child abuse with a sample size of 12,447 children, including 5981 girls.
Delhi, by Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Assam have been found to be the front-runners in child abuse cases. These states showed higher physical, sexual and emotional abuse of children. In 50 per cent of cases, the abusers were known to the child or were in a position of trust and responsibility and most children did not report the matter. Thus it can very well be assumed from the survey that the children were not safe even in their homes and remain victims of different forms of abuse.
The study also found that children in the 5 to 12 age group reported higher levels of abuse and boys were as much at risk as girls. The high abuse has been attributed to fathers looking at children as their property, the patriarchal set-up of society and poor parenting skills although no empirical research was conducted to gauge the exact reasons. But whether it is physical or sexual abuse, most children don't report the assaults to anyone.
Another aspect of the problem of women is abuse and sexual violence. According to the National Family Health Survey -III, 37 per cent married women reported abuse though one can be very sure that another significant section do not report. The top offenders include Bihar 50 per cent, followed by Rajasthan 46.3 per cent, Madhya Pradesh 45.6 per cent, Manipur 43.0 per cent and UP 42.4 per cent.
The question arises: how could girls be provided security? This can come about if there is thrust on education along with not just mid-day meal but a maintenance allowance every month, specially for those belonging to the economically weaker sections, to help them continue with their studies. The thrust on girls education has to be taken up with all sincerity and should reach all backward areas of the country.
The other aspect of tackling the problem is the spread of awareness among women and girls about their rights. Though this has been taken up by NGOs and CBOs, there is need for giving a boost to this campaign, including generating basic legal awareness among the opposite sex. It is indeed distressing to note that in spite of setting up national and state level women's commissions the problem of trafficking and sexual exploitation has remained unchecked.
More resources need to be allotted for the development of the female child and ensuring a dignified existence for her. Recent reports indicate how a million girls would be eliminated every year in the coming four years because efforts have been grossly inadequate in restraining the promotion of foetal sexing. Preference for a son has caused hatred for a daughter in India in recent years due to the widespread 'legitimization' of this form of violence against women.
The 11th Plan, which talks about inclusion needs to give a fair deal to women, should take up various injustices committed against girls and women and deal with them through an iron hand and also simultaneously ensure their education and awareness in a target-oriented approach. The NGOs and CBOs should be provided with adequate funds so that they could make inroads into the rural and backward areas and tackle trafficking and sexual violence against the opposite sex while also pursuing that girls enter school in a big way.
The intervention strategies should focus on the following areas: prevention through raising public awareness, setting up neighbourhood watch committees for monitoring incidents of missing girls, ki dnapping/abduction and migration, networking for information sharing and quick response to crisis situations and providing opportunity for holistic development to children of women in prostitution so that they are not forced to follow their mothers; securing the rights of women and children; rescue and after-care; documentation and study; and promotion of a secure and protected environment for women and children.
Dhurjati Mukherjee, INFA

State to play active role in child education

2007-07-04T20:11:00.000+05:30

1 Jul, 2007 l 0414 hrs ISTlTIMES NEWS NETWORK

PUNE: Serious discrepancy between government and civil society figures and lack of reliable statistics about children out of school in Maharashtra came out in a big way during a convention here on Saturday. The participants also discussed the state government’s inability or unwillingness to implement provisions of the right for education to all. They pointed out that the Maharashtra government’s human development report of 2002-03 cited 2,300 as the number of children below 14 years who were out of formal education in Nanded district. In sharp contrast, a joint survey carried out in January by the district administration and representatives of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Nanded villages showed that around 47,000 children in that category were out of school. Most of them were working as construction labourers and in agriculture fields. Representatives of around two dozen NGOs working in the field of child right gathered for a state-level convention on ‘Child rights: Right to Education’ organised at the behest of Socio Economic Development Trust (SEDT) — a Parbhani-based organisation working for the cause of children’s education for the last two and half decades. Shanta Sinha, chairperson of the National Commission on Child Rights, pointed to stark facts like prevalence of 47 per cent malnourishment among Indian children in the age group of 0-7 years and the 2001 census figure of 8.5 crore children out of school. “At a time when the government’s census itself talks of 1.2 crore children engaged in child labour and another 7.7 crore both out of school or work, we have no right to flaunt figures like 8 per cent annual increase in gross domestic product,” Sinha said. Highlighting the role of governments, Sinha said high absenteeism among teachers, poor condition of school infrastructure and lack of access to school due to household poverty make it more imperative for the state to play an active role. Child rights activist Nirmala Purandare said that even in a city like Pune, considered to be an educational hub, there are 32 children who cannot afford to study beyond seventh standard for each 100 that manage to find a place in a junior college. “The victory in the battle for child education and against child labour will change the destiny and economy of India,” Purandare said. Suryakant Kulkarni, chairman of SEDT and convenor of the programme, spoke about the role played by education activists in making around 300 villages in six districts of Marathwada free of illiteracy and putting all children there into school. “We were able to achieve this small step in two years. This shows that with government intervention it would be much easier to eliminate deprivation of education,” he said. The participants at the convention accused the government of not being serious about statistics regarding child education and child labour. While the state government claimed in 2002-03 that only 4.5 lakh children below 14 years of age are out of school, rough figures collected by civil society organisations show a figure as high as 14-15 lakh across the state. The convention called upon the government to adopt a pro-active approach to implement the provisions of the 1991 United Nations Convention on Child Rights and Child Education of which India is a signatory and official ratifier.

NHRC workshop on Bonded and Child labour

2007-07-04T20:04:00.000+05:30

New Delhi, June 26, 2007

National Human Rights Commission is holding a National Level Workshop on Bonded Labour and Child Labour tomorrow (June 27, 2007). The workshop, which will be inaugurated by Justice Shri S. Rajendra Babu, Chairperson, NHRC will discuss a number of issues on bonded labour and child labour. Since the year 2003, the Commission has been organizing a number of workshops on the subject in association with the Ministry of Labour and concerned State Governments for District Magistrates and other State Governments officials. These workshops came out with some general recommendations which are-· Immediate financial relief of Rs.1000/- to each of the identified and released bonded labourers.· Prosecution to be launched in all cases of bondage.· Comprehensive survey to be carried out to determine the magnitude of the incidence of child labour including bonded child labour and those in hazardous categories.· Convergence of work done by Government Department and NGOs.· Deputy Commissioners to be the Centre of Convergence efforts related to bonded and child labour.· Constitution of District and sub-divisional level Vigilance Committees.· The Vigilance Committees should examine the status of already rehabilitated bonded labourers, plan for rehabilitation of identified bonded labourers, and monitor bonded labour prone areas/industries.· Periodic review of Vigilance Committees and their functions.· Comprehensive psychological rehabilitation of the families.· Severe punishment to brokers and middleman who traffic child labour and export children from one State to another.In spite of continuing efforts of the Commission child labour still persists in most of the States in India. This is continuing despite several pronouncement of the Supreme Court and sincere efforts of the social action groups and activists. The Commission has been urging the Government of India to re-write the Child Labour laws by viewing the issue from the perspective of the "Convention of the Rights of the Child", 1989, which has been ratified by India and our own constitutional provisions of Article 21, 39 (e), 39 (f) and 45. The Commission feels the issue should be addressed on priority as now free and compulsory education has been made a fundamental right of every child up to the age of 14 years. In this field, the Commission feels that State Governments can take appropriate steps to ensure cent percent enrolment and retention of school going children, which will be a lasting solution to the problem of child labour.In the light of the above, the workshop to be organized tomorrow will deal with a number of issues. They include ----Constitutional provisions, Bonded Labour System (Abolition Act), disowning by states the existence of bonded/child labour, Centrally sponsored Schemes, convergence of schemes for meaningful, permanent and effective rehabilitation, Special problems on identification, release and rehabilitation of migrant bonded labourers (adults and children). Child labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, National Child Labour Project, State Level Monitoring Committee, District and sub divisional level Vigilance Committees, Orientation and Training of Members of Vigilance Committees and Magistrates, Role of NGOs and Monitoring and Evaluation of administrative structure in different states.The participants of the workshop will be Secretary, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment; Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Chief Secretaries and Labour Secretaries concerned, of all the States and Union Territories.*******

India defends trafficking record

2007-06-27T20:23:00.000+05:30

The Indian government has defended its efforts in tackling the problem of human trafficking a day after a US report criticised its record.
India was designated as a "Tier 2 watch list" country: it did not fully comply with minimum standards but was making significant efforts to do so.
The government says a lot is being done to tackle the problem, although more needs to be done.
It says efforts are underway to rescue and rehabilitate trafficking victims.
Sanctions possibility
"The world's largest democracy has the world's largest problem of human trafficking," said the US state department's specialist on trafficking issue, Mark Lagon.
The department has warned India would be downgraded to a "Tier 3" category unless it improved its track record.
That would mean that the US would withhold non-humanitarian, non-trade related foreign aidCorrespondents say that "Tier 3" countries are also denied access to educational and cultural exchange programmes.
The state department estimates that around 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders every year, and that 80% of them are females used in the sex trade.
The annual report places India as a "Tier two" country for the fourth year in a row.
An official in India's Women and Child Development ministry, however, defended her department's efforts in tackling the problem.
'Unfair'
"We are doing our bit, but more needs to be done," said Deepa Jain Singh, secretary for the Women and Children's Development Ministry.
Non governmental organisations (NGOs) working in the area have supported the government's efforts.
"We don't agree that nothing has changed. Legislation has come in place to deal with the issue. It is a clear indication that the pressure on the government is working," Rishi Kant, from the anti-trafficking group, Shakti Vahini, told the BBC News website.
Other women's groups argued that it was unfair that India was being put on the US watch list over the issue, and not Bangladesh or Nepal.
Aid agencies estimate that around 5,000 to 7,000 women and girls are trafficked to India from Nepal and around 10,000 to 20,000 women and children from Bangladesh.
"Nepal, Bangladesh and India need to work together to stop such trafficking," United Nations Development Programme spokeswoman Archana Tamang told the BBC.
"Women and children are not being brought into India only, there is a lot of reverse trafficking taking place as well.
"It is really important for all the three nations to work together as a sub-regional group to remedy the situation," she said.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6749983.stm

Cell set up to check child labour

2007-06-27T20:13:00.000+05:30

Express News Service

Chandigarh, June 22: The state government has set up a child labour cell in the Labour Department with a Deputy Labour Commissioner as nodal officer of the cell for monitoring law enforcement and coordination on the subject with the Central government, said Birender Singh, Finance Minister, Haryana.
The Minister said the Central government also sanctioned three National Child Labour Projects for Panipat, Faridabad and Gurgaon districts. He said consent had also been given for National Child Labour Projects (NCLP) in Jhajjar, Hisar and Yamunanagar. Birender Singh said the Advisory Board on Women and Child Labour, along with Department of Women and Child Development, had brought out a state action plan for children that consisted of a detailed chapter on child labour.
He said the Haryana government had prepared a plan to totally eliminate the pernicious practice in hazardous as well as in non-hazardous employment. Various authorities and specialised structure was created in the state to fight the problem of child labour, he added.
Three prolonged approaches were being adopted to eliminate the problem which included identification release and rehabilitation of child labour and their families with the help of NCLP projects and employment for the family through Jawahar Rozgar Yojna for their socio-economic rehabilitation, stress on education by providing non-formal education for all children of society, including child labour, under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and to create deterrent pressure against child labour by increasing strictness and action by the enforcement machinery for implementing laws relating to child labour, the minister added.
A new concept of 'Bhatta Pathshalas' has been initiated in Jhajjar in which 1,200 children of brick kiln labourers were being imparted basic educational course affiliated to the CBSE through Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, he said.
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=242431

Sex slavery a crisis within India too

2007-06-27T20:07:00.000+05:30

Anti-trafficking efforts focus on those taken abroad. But the problem also persists at home.

From the Associated Press3:03 PM PDT, June 23, 2007

NEW DELHI -- Meena discovered she had been sold while riding in an auto-rickshaw headed to New Delhi's red-light district.The 12-year-old was working as a servant in Calcutta when the homeowner told her of a good-paying job at his sister's house in India's capital. But instead, she was sold to a brothel owner and forced into prostitution for little more than a place to sleep and the occasional meal.Her ordeal lasted four years and Meena, now 21, says it left her "a very angry person.""The anger comes suddenly," says Meena, who asked that her full name not be used because of the social stigma.Beneath the surface of India's rapid economic development lies a problem rooted in the persistent poverty of hundreds of millions of Indians. Rights activists say thousands of poor women and girls are forced into prostitution every year after being lured from villages on false promises.Much of the attention on human trafficking focuses on the estimated 600,000 to 800,000 people — about 80% of them women or girls — who are trafficked across national borders every year, and, in many cases, forced to work as prostitutes or virtual slaves.But those numbers don't include victims trafficked within countries — a problem that has long plagued India, a country so large and diverse that victims taken hundreds of miles away where a different language is spoken have little chance of finding their way home."This is a challenge to India's contention that it is both democratic and modern," said Ruchira Gupta, founder of the anti-trafficking group Apne Aap Women Worldwide. "In this day and age, when democracy is supposed to exist in India ... we have so many slaves."It is difficult to track the illicit trade, and the estimates for the number of victims each year vary.But this much is known: By official estimates, there are 3 million sex workers in India, at least 40% of them children. And thousands are believed to have been unwittingly lured into the work by traffickers, activists say.Most of the girls come from India's poorer states. A relative or friend approaches the girl's parents about a well-paying job in the city or a chance for marriage requiring little or no dowry.In some cases, it's the parents who sell the girls. Prices range from several hundred to several thousand dollars.Traffickers are rarely caught. The U.S. State Department said in an annual report on human trafficking last year that India's response to the problem was weak and prosecutions rare.In Mumbai, which has the highest concentration of sex workers, only 13 traffickers were arrested in 2005, and none was convicted, according to the State Department. The situation was similar in other cities."One of the best ways to prevent trafficking is to increase convictions of trafficking — and this is not happening," said Gupta. "Women are being rounded up.... but there are very few arrests of men who are running the whole trade."Deepa Jain Singh, of Ministry of Women and Child Development, said the government was "trying to do more" about the problem of sex trafficking, but she declined to give details.What becomes of the victims? There are many pitfalls. HIV infections among sex workers are widespread in a country with an estimated 5.7 million people infected with the disease.Those who escape are often rejected by their families.Meena was rescued by STOP, an anti-trafficking group, and lives in their New Delhi shelter.The shelter's goal is to make the girls and women in the house function "like a normal family.""We want them to go from victim to survivor to activist. It's a long journey," said Roma Debabrata, STOP's founder.

Trafficking Of Tribal Girls Unabated In Chhattisgarh

2007-06-27T19:59:00.000+05:30

NEWPOST INDIA

Sunday 24th of June 2007 Come to one of India's most impoverished tribal areas in the Surguja district of Chhattisgarh and take away minor tribal girls for just Rs 500-Rs 2,000.This has been the tale of hundreds of tribal girls from the Sitapur assembly segment in northern Chhattisgarh for years. Locals say that for more than a decade 'agents' and 'suppliers' here have been taking advantage of the region's backwardness, offering a mere Rs 500-Rs 2,000 as advance to the poor tribal girls' parents in return for employment as maid servants in the country's metros and other major cities.'They (agents) tell poor parents that their girls will contribute towards the family income by making career in places like Delhi and Mumbai, but it's a lie. They supply our girls purely for sexual exploitation and it's been happening for more than a decade,' Mangroo Mandawi, a resident of the Manjhi tribe dominated Kamleshwar village, told IANS.A local police officer told this correspondent during a recent visit to the Sitapur assembly segment, 'Everyone except the poor parents here know that the girls are going to metros for sexual exploitation in name of domestic help. This year alone we have registered dozens of cases of human trafficking in Kamleshwar, Narmadapur and adjoining areas.' 'Parents who believe their girls are earning money and making a career in metros are often in for a rude shock when the girls return after months, and sometimes even years, to narrate the tales of sexual exploitation,' the policeman said on condition of anonymity, adding: 'Several local agents who were engaged in this racket were arrested in raids during the past one year but the supply is still unabated.' 'Police here rarely take action as the agents give them a share of their earnings. The supply racket has become a thriving business here for the many agents in contact with the Manjhi, Manjwar and Urao tribes of some 30-odd village panchayats, including 18 situated on the top of the Mainpat hills,' 45-year-old Gaya Ram of Narmadapur village told IANS.When contacted, Sitapur legislator Amarjeet Bhagat of the state opposition Congress party, said on phone: 'Yes, I admit human trafficking and supply of girls as maid servants to metros is going on in certain areas. I raised the issue in the state assembly too and police detected several cases.' Surguja district superintendent of police S.K.Rathor said: 'Girls migrate to bigger cities in search of employment voluntarily. It's not the job of the police to keep track of every families' girls.'

http://newspostindia.com/report-4729

2007-06-18T13:10:00.000+05:30

MOHAMMAD MOHSIN/REUTERS A FAMILY ADRIFT on a makeshift raft in Bangladesh's southwestern Satkhira district. A file photograph.

SUSHANTA PATRONOBISH A BSF outpost at Muchia in Malda district. West Bengal shares a 2,216-km border with Bangladesh.

COVER STORYConstant traffic
SUHRID SANKAR CHATTOPADHYAYin Kolkata , FRONTLINE

http://www.frontline.in/stories/20070615003701400.htm
Large-scale immigration from Bangladesh to West Bengal raises fears of terrorist movement.

E.M. FORSTER, in Howards End, makes an interesting observation that there is no point in praising civilisation if it does not allow a person to die peacefully in the house where he was born. This brings in sharp focus the oft-forgotten fact that a person does not migrate from his village, let alone his country, unless compelled to do so: and, for the poor, this compelling reason is poverty, unemployment and the question of sheer survival.
In 1979, the economist J.K. Galbraith wrote: "Migration is the oldest action against poverty. It selects those who most want help. It is good for the country to which they go; it helps break the equilibrium of poverty in the country from which they come. What is the perversity in the human soul that causes people to resist so obvious a good?"
In a later work, he suggested that the mass poverty and unemployment in Third World countries could be solved easily if globalisation meant not only free movement of capital worldwide but also free international movement of labour. But this was not to be, because the "push" and "pull" factors that work for any significant migration have not been allowed free play by the advanced industrialised countries.
West Bengal, which already has the highest population density in India, has been a sufferer in this respect. The "push" factors prompting Bangladeshi migrants, both Hindus and Muslims, include poverty, unemployment, poor medical facilities, poor infrastructure, political instability, frequent natural disasters and religious fundamentalism.
The "pull" factors that make West Bengal an attractive destination, apart from being a convenient one because of the common border, include a demand for cheap labour in a thriving agricultural sector, the excellent growth rate of the Indian economy, similarity of language and physical features, availability of good medical facilities and a secular and liberal government committed to the rule of law.
It's not all negative
Not all is negative about such migration. In line with Galbraith's observation, it has been seen that in most of the places where immigrants have settled in West Bengal, agricultural yield has generally been greater. According to a report brought out by the Population Studies Unit of the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, titled "Undocumented Migration from Bangladesh to West Bengal", "household industry including bidi, pottery, mat, candle, kanthastitch, ganjee factory, and Shantipuri tant [woven saree] have improved since illegal migrants provide cheap labour."
The report also talks about the flip side of such mass migration: deforestation, land grab, trade grab, squatting on pavements and railway platforms, added pressure on natural resources, and expansion of existing slums.
Some studies of slums in Delhi, Mumbai, Chandigarh and Ludhiana show the rural poor from neighbouring countries, including large numbers of Bangladeshis, travel long distances in search of jobs and settle temporarily wherever their unskilled labour may be in demand. Interestingly, they are seldom found in the slums of South Indian cities such as Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kochi, presumably because of the difficulty of learning the local language.

Frequent natural disasters, including floods, are among the factors that trigger regular migrations to India.
A recent survey conducted by Sanlap, a Kolkata-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) that does extensive work in the repatriation of Bangladeshi women rescued from exploitative situations, revealed that in Delhi's Tughlaqabad and Gurgaon areas, there is a sizable population of Bengali-speaking women working as domestics. "From their accents and names, we could ascertain that 75 per cent of them were from Bangladesh," said Indrani Sinha, director and founder-member of Sanlap.
In West Bengal, the problem is compounded by the fact that of the 4,095-km border that India shares with Bangladesh, the State alone covers 2,216 km. But it is along the 1,145-km border in the southern part of the State that most of the immigration from Bangladesh - both documented and illegal - takes place. The fencing that was started a few years ago barely covers 530 km of this crucial border. Though this may have stemmed the infiltration substantially, the porous nature of the border continues to defy permanent solution.
fencing helps
According to Somesh Goyal, Additional Director-General, Border Security Force (BSF), the reduced number of illegal immigrants caught at the border shows that the fencing has been effective. "Whereas earlier we would nab some 10,000 people trying to cross the border illegally, we now catch around 5,000," he told Frontline. "If 50 per cent of the border is fenced, then I can safely say that infiltration has also been reduced by 50 per cent. My focus is on the unfenced areas," he said.
However, he concedes that fencing is not a foolproof solution. The fence is expensive to maintain, and the funds and the technology are not always available. Just 18 battalions cover over 1,000 km of the border, and there is not even adequate lighting to maintain proper vigil. "I have been extremely vocal in demanding floodlighting along the border, but that is still in the experimental stage," he said. So far, only a length of 90 km has been illuminated.
The close, neighbourly relations shared by those living in areas close to the border on either side make it tough for the police and the BSF to tackle illegal immigration. Many people have relatives on the other side and own property in both countries. When it comes to smuggling, people on both sides have fingers in the pie. Besides, many householders on the West Bengal side of the border earn a reasonable income by providing food and shelter to immigrants. Though much illegal immigration takes place with the help of agents who are smart enough to maintain good relations with the BSF, the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) and the police, many immigrants come across with the help of friendly neighbours on this side of the border, or of friends and relatives who have already migrated.
People on both sides share the same physiological features and the same language (though the accent may be different). Once across the border, the immigrants simply melt away among the locals, sometimes taking on new names.
Until recently, a ration card was considered proof of residence, but this was not difficult to fake. Now, however, with the voter identity card considered a proof of identity, a ration card is no longer good enough to prove residence, which makes things a little more difficult for illegal immigrants.
Talking about the political and demographic impact of such migration from Bangladesh, the State president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Tathagata Roy, referred to a report brought out by the Centre for Policy Studies, Chennai, which states that the Muslim population in West Bengal's Murshidabad district has increased from 55 per cent in 1951 to 61 per cent in 1991; in Malda district, it increased from 36 per cent to 47 per cent. This increase in the bordering districts seems to point to significant migration from across the border.
Roy, in keeping with his party's line, seeks to distinguish between Hindu and Muslim immigrants: the former, for him, are asylum-seeking refugees whereas the latter are illegal immigrants. "India does not have riches coming out of its ears that it can take the burden of supporting surplus Bangladeshi population, especially when Bangladesh receives a huge amount of aid from oil-rich Arab countries of West Asia," he said.
There was a time when most political parties in the State turned a Nelson's eye to illegal immigrants, keeping in view not only the need for maintaining good relations with Bangladesh but also the electoral calculus. That changed after terror attacks were found to have links with some illegal immigrants. The idea mooted by some politicians to issue temporary work permits for temporary job-seekers in border areas was never given a trial.
Smuggling
Cross-border activities include smuggling, and among the major items that change hands are cattle, pharmaceuticals, machinery parts, clothing, sugar, cereals and narcotics. According to BSF sources, around 100 brand new motorcycles made in India are recovered every year while being smuggled into Bangladesh.
For cattle smuggling, the 367-km riverine border area, starting from the Sunderban region, provides an effective, albeit dangerous, passage. Until 2005, approximately 60,000 heads of cattle were intercepted every year, against the million livestock animals that were smuggled out.
"In 2006, we managed to intercept 1,22,000 heads of cattle and, with strict vigilance, reduced the supply of cattle to Bangladesh to less than half a million," said Goyal. After that, beef prices in the border areas of Bangladesh shot up alarmingly, from Taka 65 a kg to Taka 200 a kg: such is the dependence of smuggled livestock in Bangladesh.
There are apparently "cattle corridors" along the border where the cost of turning a smuggled animal to a legal one is Taka 500. The BSF claims that it successfully broke the supply chain from West Bengal to Bangladesh last year. Until 2005, 225-250 smugglers were caught every year. In a drive launched last year, 2,680 smugglers, both Bangladeshi and Indian, were caught; a sum of Rs.1.5 crore in fake currency and three caches of live snakes were recovered from them. Reptiles apparently command a worldwide market of $5 billion and bring in higher profits than even smuggled drugs.
"We find that the BDR has been supporting smuggling activities, and though the present caretaker government has decided to address this issue, there is no reflection yet on the border," said Goyal. But according to the BSF, smuggling of cattle and other goods is a minor issue compared with the far bigger danger: the network that organises the cattle-smuggling can also be used for movement of terrorists and spies.
On August 14 last year, on the eve of Indian Independence Day, the BSF caught two militants of the Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Jaish-e-Mohammad using the cattle route.
Inspector-General, Law and Order Raj Kanojia of the State police echoed this apprehension. "The frequency of arrests of people trying to cross the border is very high, but that is mostly for illegal migration. However, one cannot overlook the strong likelihood of militants using these very routes to enter India," he told Frontline. Between August 2006 and April 2007, as many as 10 militants belonging to the Lashkar, the Hizbul Mujahideen and the Jama'atul Mujahideen of Bangladesh were caught trying to cross over into West Bengal.
Where to look?
According to intelligence sources, of the Bangladeshis who have entered India on valid documents, more than 200,000 have not returned home officially.
"We know who they are, and it might be theoretically possible to get them repatriated. But where do we even begin to search? In the last one year's records, Bangladesh has featured very prominently either as a transit point, or as a training centre or as an asylum for terrorists. This, coupled with the massive immigration from the country, has sent alarm bells ringing in States that share borders with Bangladesh," one of them told Frontline.
Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has stepped up efforts to prevent illegal immigration and the movement of terrorists into the State. The Central government believes that Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) uses Bangladesh as a training ground and West Bengal as a transit route. Illegal immigration from Bangladesh comes hand-in-hand with cross-border trafficking.
A study brought out by Groupe Development, based on the research of three NGOs - Sanlap in India and the Dhaka Ahsania Mission and the Association for Community Development in Bangladesh - says: "The magnitude of trafficking in Bangladesh has increased over the years, but neither the extent nor the real expansion can be verified... . Kolkata is the junction and transit point for cross-border trafficking where women and girls from Bangladesh and Nepal are forced into prostitution."
In 80 per cent of the cases, the study reveals, poor women and children came to India on the false assurance of employment, but were instead sold in urban red-light areas.
For the poor job-seekers of Bangladesh, it is often too expensive and time-consuming to follow travel protocols. It is far more convenient to simply slip across the border. The money that has to be spent in bribes is far less than the expenses involved in travelling to Dhaka for the necessary papers, and there is no guarantee that a visa will be granted, anyway.
A lot of people are not even aware of the restrictions on travel across international boundaries. And when the choice is between starvation and illegal immigration, people choose to slip across

Young woman found murdered

2007-06-18T13:00:00.000+05:30

The Hindu , 18 June 2007

A young woman allegedly trafficked from West Bengal and pushed into the flesh trade in the Capital was found murdered at Govindpuri here earlier this month. The police have arrested one of the accused and have launched a hunt for the other.
The victim was a resident of Nadia in West Bengal. Her body was found stuffed in a wooden box on June 7. The police zeroed in on one Shankar Ghosh, who was earlier arrested along with three young women. The accused was traced to Chittaranjan Park and arrested on Saturday.
During interrogation, he purportedly confessed to having murdered the victim as she had been insisting on going back home. The victim had been brought here by a tout named Raju on the pretext of providing her a job. She was "sold" to Shankar who allegedly pushed her into the flesh trade.
The victim recently fell ill and started pestering Shankar to let her go back to her native place, at which he allegedly decided to kill her. He along with his accomplice Virender allegedly murdered her and fled from the scene. A team sent to Virender's native place in Jharkhand has returned empty handed. A hunt is on for him.
According to Rishi Kant of Shakti Vahini, a non-government organisation spreading awareness against human trafficking, over 2,000 small and big "domestic help" agencies operate from just Kalkaji, most of which indulge in human trafficking. A large number of girls and women are trafficked from West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar and other States through these unscrupulous agencies and are abused.

Report: India has almost 3M prostitutes

2007-06-04T00:56:00.000+05:30

NEW DELHI - India's minister for women and child development said Tuesday the country has an estimated 2.8 million prostitutes and the number is rising.
Renuka Chowdhury presented a study on "Girls-Women in prostitution in India" to the lower house of Parliament. She said more than one-third of Indian prostitutes entered the profession before age 18, the Press Trust of India reported.
She told lawmakers her ministry runs homes to provide shelter, food, clothing, counseling, rehabilitation and other facilities to victims of commercial sexual exploitation. She said another project is being implemented to combat trafficking in women and children for sexual exploitation.

Ugly face of Human Trafficking

2007-06-04T00:53:00.001+05:30

Ugly face of human trafficking comes to fore

By Manoj KarKendrapara: A Dalit youth from this coastal district of Orissa underwent a two-month-long nightmarish ordeal in Malaysia and escaped from the clutches of a well-knit human trafficking racket, bringing to the fore the plight of large number of unemployed local youths still stranded in that country in their quest for greener pastures.
Over two dozens of unemployed youths, mostly Dalits from Nahanga, Choti-Mangalpur, Charigaon, Kurutunga and Dhola villages under Kendrapara police station area, made their way to Malaysia courtesy job offers in the south east Asian country with attractive pay package by a Bhubaneswar-based placement agency.
The search for job has now proved abortive as the job seekers were taken for a ride. Even as two youths risking their lives made their safe return to their native village recently, fate of the rest of the group is still unknown in an inhospitable alien land.
Meanwhile, the shell-shocked poor parents have petitioned Orissa Chief Minister and sought the Malaysian embassy to intervene for the safe return of their wards.
"Some unemployed youths had headed for Malaysia earlier this year. The labour welfare wing of the local administration is inquiring to ascertain the exact number who migrated then. We have voiced our concern to the state government over the safety aspect of those still stranded in Malaysia. The human trafficking angle into the exodus is also being looked into," said Kendrapara District Collector Kashinath Sahu.
"It was God's desire that I have come back flesh and blood," quipped 28-year-old Manoj Mallick, a native of Nikirai hamlet.
We were lured away by the attractive pay package that the placement agency offered for the job in Kuala Lumpur's Omega wood industry. Being the fourth child of a poor dalit family, the offer was too tempting to decline, Mallick, a graduate from the local college, said.
"It was a voluntary decision to leave the country to provide economic support to poor parents. There was also little option left to earn a livelihood. But our venture has ended in trafficking. It is sheer good luck that I successfully fled from the tormentors to whom we were literally sold off human resources," Mallick, of dalit caste origin, narrated.
"As far as I know, five of our group are still languishing as illegal immigrants in Malaysia and are literally leading a caged life. They are Gayadhar Rout, Maheswar Rout (both brothers), Tara Charan Behera, Arikhit Sahoo and Ajay Kumar Swain."
"They have made phone calls to me as well as to their parents. Their voice is tinged in panic and fear and their plea is to bring them back from tyrannical employers.""Our nightmarish ordeal began right from 10 February, the very day we landed at Kuala Lumpur international airport."
"But the excitement over bright future in an alien land soon fizzled out. A man identifying as placement agent Razaq snatched away the passports and immigration visa and ordered us to board a jeep."
"It was a three-hour journey when we reached a hilly terrain with forest cover. We were given shelter under tin cover warehouse. There was human habitation in proximity. We were later terrified learning that it was a burial ground. Leaving us in the lurch, the agent turned up again after a week. We lived on charity of a Bangladeshi woman living about half-km from the place. The woman had married a local Malaysia man and offered us ration free.
"The agent later took us to the wood industry. We received the shock of our life after we were forced to do manual job like loading timber on the trucks. We were promised to do office work only.
"Left with little option, we toiled for eight to ten hours. There was little to eat and drink. We lived without food and water for most of the days. Accommodated in a makeshift shed in the heart of the jungle, we fought against animals, snakes and lizards. It was a terrible experience.
"It was March 12 midnight. Accompanied by Manguli Jena I fled from the labour camp. After nightlong trekking along the forest, we reached the mainland. Both of us boarded a Kuala Lumpur-bound bus. Our money was exhausted and we had nothing to eat.
"We were also running for cover as we were illegal immigrants. Our passport and visa was taken by the employer. A local Gurdwara gave us shelter for over a fortnight after coming to know of our plight. We helped the management in their daily work and they were gracious enough to feed us. Later we reached the India High Commissioner office as instructed by the Gurdwara management. A young lady officer took pity upon our plight and helped us a lot in arranging our return journey.

1 Uzbek, 2 Indian women held for immoral trafficking

2007-06-04T00:36:00.000+05:30

1 Uzbek, 2 Indian women held for immoral trafficking
Express News Service 28 May 2007
Chandigarh, May 27: An Uzbekistan national, two women of Indian origin and five Indian nationals were nabbed from a hotel in Manimajra on charges of immoral trafficking on Sunday. The accused were caught red-handed while indulging in immoral trafficking and marked currency was recovered from their possession. While the Uzbek woman was allegedly charging Rs. 7,000 per day, the other two women were charging Rs. 1,000 per day from their ‘pimps’.
Those arrested include owners of Hotel Chander Palace, Manimajra, Deepak Sharma and Anil Sharma, residents of Mohali, Surinder Prasad Goswami, a Panchkula resident, Vikas Kumar, a New Delhi resident and Rohit Kalra, resident of Sector 6, Panchkula. Of the three women besides the Uzbekistan national who entered India on May 22, one woman belonged to Morigate, Manimajra and the other claimed to be a resident of Noida.
While Deepak and Anil, allegedly used to facilitate their clients in the hotel rooms, Vikas and Rohit Kalra used to arrange women from Delhi. Goswami, who works at the hotel, was the middle-man between Vikas, Kalra and the hotel-clients.
Acting on the information, the trap was set up by Sub-divisional police officer (Central) DSP SS Randhawa. Two teams of Crime Branch and police station-17 were constituted to nab the accused. Three police officers became decoy customers and approached the accused with Rs. 10,000 marked currency. The deal was struck and the accused were caught redhanded while the money exchanged hands. The money, which the accused had distributed among themselves, was recovered later.
The preliminary interrogation revealed that another Uzbeki woman, based in Delhi was running a racket of immoral trafficking with Uzbeki women who would come from Uzbekistan on contract basis, indulge in immoral activities, get their money and go back.
About over a 100 foreign nationals, staying in Delhi and Chandigarh are apparently running immoral trafficking rackets in the northern cities of the country. The details about the Uzbekistan woman, considered to be the mastermind behind this racket, were sent to Delhi police by officials of the Chandigarh Police on Sunday.
“We have already intimated our counterparts at Delhi. They might nab the kingpin soon. We will be producing these accused in the court tomorrow”, said Inspector Satbir Singh, incharge, Crime Branch.

The Company of Bad Men

2007-06-04T00:27:00.001+05:30

The company of bad men
Friday June 1 2007 15:28 IST

Sumati Mehrishi

Traveling sex offenders (TSOs) are very much on the prowl at Indian tourist destinations. On May 9, Richard
Borodig, a British national was arrested from the Anjuna Beach, Goa. The paedophile-suspect is out on bail. Recently, the Tamil Nadu Police nabbed Alan Jay Horowitz, a US national listed among the 100 most wanted men in New York, in Mahabalipuram. Horowitz, a traveling sex offender and child psychologist was spotted in Bangalore before he came down to Mahabalipuram.

With Horowitz’s arrest, the issue of unregistered “children’s homes”is increasingly causing concern. This is what the Goa based NGOs have been trying to tell the media and people over the years; that tourism related paedophilia is not Goa’s problem alone, as is commonly believed. According to Nishtha Desai of Child Rights in Goa, an NGO based in Panjim, sexual abuses on children by tourists happen at other Indian tourist destinations as well, but the cases are never highlighted. “Kerala, Rajasthan, Delhi, Agra and Mumbai, it’s happening all over India,” she says.

“I fear it’s going to get worse in India, as the trouble deflects from other countries owing to international pressure,” says, Thierry Darnaudet, President, Action Pour Les Enfants (APLE), an NGO working against TSOs in Cambodia and India.

Vidya Reddy of Tulir, a Chennai based Centre for the Prevention and Healing of Child Sexual Abuse, agrees. She says, “With Sri Lanka, Thailand and Philippines strengthening their response toTSOs, an increasing trend of travel to India among this category of individuals has been reported by alarmed law enforcement in the source countries. Perhaps, they realise that child sex tourism is not considered a significant issue at the moment in our country; with our laws and their implementation fairly lax. There is no dearth of vulnerable children in our country who can be exploited.”

TSOs follow certain patterns in their movement. According to Thierry, “There are TSOs who come to Puri every year and travel to Darjeeling.” He adds, “They return to Puri and leave for Chennai from where they travel to Mahabalipuram, Kovalam (in Kerala) and Goa.” They believe in lying low if they fear a watchful eye and operate at some other tourist destination. They befriend their prey and pose as philanthropists.

In India, NGOs helping the police fight the menace have faced problems owing to lack of “proper” evidence and witnesses turning hostile. According to Desai, the ten year old girl who was seen being let out from the front door of Borodig’s house when the police came cracking down, says that the man “molested” her. One of the few cases where a child has talked about her offender, “however her statements have not been recorded under Section 164 Cr PC before the magistrate”. “The suspect-paedophiles, when out on bail usually operate through other people. We have to keep an eye on them,” adds Desai.

“Spend a night on the town with kids from Britain and Bombay in Baga”. This is no invitation to a children’s party at a seaside locality in Goa. Unfortunately, unnoticed so far by child rights activists in the country, this line in a chapter on North Goa in Lonely Planet, a travel guide shows how openly (or subtly) the state is being projected as a child sex tourism destination — an “image” the Goan government and NGOs are trying so hard to eliminate.

According to sources in the Central Bureau of Investigation(CBI), “children’s homes” in Goa “are a classic case” of how funding the ‘have-nots’ is a cover up for suspected-paedophile activities. CBI, which is handling the Goa sex scandal involving children’s homes “is aware of the happenings in Mahabalipuram.”

Incidentally, it was in December 2006 that people at an NGO noticed that there was information on “children’s homes” in Mahabalipuram in Lonely Planet on Tamil Nadu. NGOs collectively wrote to Lonely Planet in February this year. “Lonely Planet wrote back saying that they will look into it,” says a volunteer at an NGO. A few months ago, Mahabalipuram saw the shutting down of unregistered “children’s homes”.

According to A Amalraj, Superintendent of Police, Kancheepuram, there are no specific cases of child abuse by TSOs reported in Mahabalipuram. He says,“We hardly receive any specific complaints of this nature in the area. We need to receive complaints to take action.”

TSOs and child sex abuse: Different Issues

When the Nithari case came into light, attention and arguments shifted from sexual abuse against children by traveling paedophiles to that happening at the domestic front. “Cases of child sex abuse (CSA) within the community are far more prevalent than cases of tourism related sexual abuse,” says Nishtha Desai. However, can we afford to ignore tourism related CSA? “It is important to address the problem and to prevent the institutionalisation of tourism related CSA,” adds Desai. Thierry believes that paedophilia is one end of CSA, where the person “once a paedophile will always remain a paedophile, hence is far more harmful than a child sex abuser.” He warns, “TSOs usually keep a back up of child pornography on their computers, so that once they return to their home country they can look at images. Plus, they will always look for children they can abuse at their home country. They have a number of victims, cutting across geographical boundaries.”

Our laws are full of loopholes. For instance, who will trace the several “missing” pedophiles in India? Why cannot the pedophiles be arrested when they are “lying low” waiting to strike in some other part of the country? Why is there a delay in prosecution? Why isn’t corruption among “lower ranks” of police at tourist destinations checked when the higher ranks and general public are aware of what is going on? What about keeping check on those Indian paedophiles who were convicted for child sex abuse in the US and deported to India, under Operation Predator, a crackdown by the US department of homeland security and immigration and customs enforcement ICE? They roam free. Sources from the CBI say, “ Indian investigating agencies and the police have little to do with the issue of deported criminals. The country’s legal system has to deal with the problem.” According to Chennai based advocate Geeta Ramaseshan, “There are issues of jurisdiction involved here. There has to be some act of crime in the country if a person has to be prosecuted.”

Also, the legal system, according to Ramaseshan does not use the word “paedophile” at all. “The law still has to a define a huge area in this respect. There are a few bills pending on the same issue. A lot of understanding of the existing laws is needed to bring the changes. I think, more important than the issue of bails are matters like evidence, the defining of the offence against children. Then, sensitisation of the judiciary is required. Remember, punishment for crime is a defensive mechanism. More important is to prevent it.” She points out.

An expert, on the condition of anonymity, has a few suggestions to make. He says, “To improve the situation in our country, we should first locate the missing paedophile-suspects. Next, we should be strict with laws and their implementation on paedophiles; like the kind of laws we have for people involved with narcotics. Paedophiles should be arrested, prosecuted and convicted in time and should be banned from entering India after they serve their sentence here. They should just not be given time to lie low. Also, there’s need for more advanced forensic labs in tourism destination states to handle such investigations.”

A volunteer from an NGO based in Tamil Nadu rues the fact that the issue of TSOs is of low priority in the list of crimes for the government and the police force. The Home Ministry should take some steps in this direction,” says she.

We are watching

Goa authorities have displayed warnings to suspected-paedophiles at various beaches. But due to the scanty presence of tourism police on Goa beaches, “unhealthy” interaction between tourists and children on the beaches goes unchecked.

At the Vagator beach, one of the few lesser crowded beaches in North Goa, “Sharon Stone” settles down on sand with a bowl full of strawberries. “You can call me Sharon Stone. My real name is difficult for foreigners like you to learn,” says she. “Anjelina”, “Kate”, “Julia” (usually from states like Rajasthan, Gujarat and Karnataka) when they get back to selling sarongs, knick-knacks, souvenirs — throw names of hotels, middlemen, and sometimes phone numbers. No cop in sight, the only way to cut short the nuisance on beaches is to approach the restaurant owners (who provide the sun beds); do warn tourists and vendors against “any objectionable act”. From Vagator to Palolem, from Calangute to Colva, the trick really works. This way, visitors and local people can really help curb the problem at such open spaces. However, there’s another trend which Goans seem to ignore ; of single parents landing with their kids at shacks and beach side hotels. These tourists hire a local lad for “baby sitting” during the day; during the evenings, the local lad doubles up for the other job.

At Puri, another tourist destination which came in light for TSOs last year, Thierry says, “things usually pick up during the season time (November to January).” “I have got information on a few foreigners who take interest in clicking pictures of naked children on the beach. I just want to tell the TSOs that we are watching them.” he adds. Thierry believes that by being alert and watchful, you can really mount pressure on the paedophiles to move out of the locality.

TSOs-hotel-travel industry: The Nexus

NGOs and child protection organizations over the world are aware of the nexus between TSOs, hotels and the transport industry. Taking clues from the trends, ECPAT (End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes), a network of organizations working worldwide to eliminate sexual exploitation of children has suggested a “code of conduct” for the hotel and travel industry. The code is currently implemented by 17 countries including Sri Lanka, Thailand and India. ECPAT runs programmes like, in-flight videos to warn travelers against child sex abuse. Air France, Corsair, Nouvelles Frontieres, Lufthansa and Austrian Air are already using it. “ECPAT USA has designed and distributed an educational brochure to inform Americans about the extra-territorial provisions of US law against child sex tourism,” says their fact sheet. In India, ECPAT’s ‘Please Disturb, an Inter-sectoral response to Traveling Sex Offenders’, was presented by Tulir in Chennai last year, to build awareness among the tourism and travel sector here. “We expect a lot from the hotel and travel industry in this regard. Their inputs can really help us crack down on such cases,” adds Amal Raj.

The vastness of our country and the sluggish judicial system shouldn’t really discourage any hope for improvement. So, the next time you see a suspicious element on the prowl at one of the tourist destinations, help authorities “mount pressure” on him. TSOs will then think twice before “deflecting” to India.

Around 70 per cent children don’t report abuse

More than 1 million children are exploited in the global commercial sex trade each year

An estimated 30 percent of the sex workers in Phnom Penh are under the age of 18

Out of the 9800 child sex offenders arrested in US under Operation Predator, 85 per cent are foreigners (including Indians)

Roughly around 10,000 paedophiles come to Goa each year and 1000 children are at risk in a single area in Goa

Number of children involved in the sex industry in India in 1994 according to ECPAT : 400,000

AP trafficking victims will be paid to testify

2007-03-14T23:20:00.000+05:30

Many cases against traffickers in humans in Andhra Pradesh fall apart because the witnesses, usually the victims themselves, don’t want to testify. And it’s mainly because they do not have the money to appear at hearings.
So for the first time in the country, the Andhra police are heading a UN agency plan to compensate witnesses for coming to testify. They will get fare to and from their village to the court, said P Umapathi, inspector general of Women’s Protection Cell. “We also propose to give them daily minimum wages for the period that they are in court. They will get some money for child maintenance, too,” he said.
The court currently pays witnesses only Rs 8 for food. The money for the new initiative is coming from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The agency will give each of the five worst-hit districts Rs 5 lakh for a year. “While it will be funded by UNODC to start with, the state will eventually take over the programme,” said Umapathi.
He said the aim is to introduce the compensation scheme to all 23 districts. The payment scheme will also cover men who appear as witnesses.
Karn Kowshik
Posted online: Wednesday, March 14, 2007 at 0000 hrs

Andhra has the highest number of cases of trafficking in women in the country. Records show that last year, 1,431 arrests were made in 458 cases under the Immoral Trafficking Act by the Andhra police across the country.
While the police are still compiling figures on those rescued, an official here said that in the last three months, they have had 300 rescues and a similar number of arrests. About a quarter of those saved are minors.
The police here say victims of trafficking often shun the courts because they are unsure about what the police are doing for them. In many case they want to go back to the brothel or the pimp who they were with, for reasons ranging from financial security to fear of being ostracized at home. But the main reason, said a senior Women’s Cell official, is that victims lose their daily wages when they come to court to testify. “They have to spend money on transport and food, as well as food for their children,” he said.

http://www.indianexpress.com/story/25564.html

In child smuggler’s words, villagers called him ‘God’

2007-03-14T23:15:00.000+05:30

KOLKATA, March 13 : Police ki ankhon me mein child smuggler, lekin gaonwale mujhe bhagwan samajthe the. Dada, mein bacche smuggle karta tha, ismein bahut paisa hai (Police may call me a trafficker, but I was god to the villagers. I used to traffick children. It gives good money),” says Tushar Bashar (name changed), once a child trafficker in Sandeshkhali, South 24 Parganas.

According to locals and police, he smuggled at least 50 children out of the villages in Sandeshkhali. Business was good for Tushar, a well-built man with thin moustache, till he sold one of his own relatives to the child trafficking racket and later came to know that the girl had landed into a brothel
in Delhi.
“I was full of remorse. I was repentant. I had brought the girl from my poor maternal uncle’s home with the promise that she would find a good house and paid a decent salary in Delhi. But once out of Kolkata, the agents who had taken her away could not provide any information about the girl for months and not a penny reached my uncle. Finally, I learnt that she was in a brothel. I had to leave my house as my uncle and other relatives kept visiting me and insisted on getting the girl back. This is my new address that my relatives do not know. They have lost track of me. I have also changed track to settle for other things,” says Bashar. He now works as a security guard with a well-known group in Kolkata.
Talking to The Indian Express, he narrated how the racket works at the grassroot level in villages like Sandeshkhali.
“I could speak well and convince people. Once you earn the confidence of a couple of homes in a particular village, the urge to send children to places like Delhi and Mumbai is like a tide,”
he says.
“There are so many children and so many mouths to feed. We were hailed as gods by the villagers, as they thought we could provide their children with jobs. Parents depend on the income of their children. It used this to our benefit. We told them that the children would find work as domestic helps in good households of Delhi and Mumbai.
They will earn substantial money. But they were sold,” says Bashar, sitting with his wife in the lawn of his house, in Sandeshkhali village.
According to Bashar, the agents in the districts and in Kolkata have people in villages who work for them.
They often also have tie-ups with agencies in Delhi, Mumbai and other big cities which provide domestic help services.
The children are moved to railway stations and transit lodges in Kolkata in groups of 10 and 20. They are taken to bigger cities by the agents through trains and buses, tells Bashar.
Once in Delhi or Mumbai, they are sorted according to their age and looks. The good-looking and young children are sold into sex trade. The others are sent to brothels or to households.
“A good-looking young girl fetched me anything between Rs 4000 to Rs 6000,” says Bashar. The chain upwards is intricate and is not disclosed to those below, Bashar adds.
“The parents are promised Rs 1000 to 1500 per month, but in most cases the payment is only for the first or second month. The standard story then is that the child has escaped from where he was employed and hence could not be contacted.” There were over 70 such agents in Sandeshkhali block when he was into the racket about a year ago, Bashar says.
He also ackowledges the involvement of both local police and local politicians. “Regular share was given to the police as well as the local village panchayat members of political parties. I used to work as a trafficker under a former village panchayat vice-chairman who belongs to the CPI(M). A good network in the villages and the financial condition of the families in the neighbouring villages was essential to run the racket,” says Bashar.
Members of an NGO, Save the Children, which is working for rehabilitation of the rescued trafficked children say that at least nine traffickers have been persuaded to get back to the mainstream in the past two years in Sandeshkhali.
http://www.indianexpress.com/story/25567.html

Low on police priority, missing cases on a high

2007-03-14T23:03:00.000+05:30

Ravik Bhattacharya
Posted online: Tuesday, March 13, 2007 at 0000 hrs

Kolkata, march 12 : If the report by Kolkata police’s Missing Persons Squad is any indication, an abnormally high number of children disappear every year from city homes. Out of about 40,000 people gone missing from the city between 1996 and 2005 (as per the latest figures available with the Kolkata police), the number of children is significantly high. Over 15,600 children have disappeared during this period from the city.

Meanwhile, for a small fragment of those who make it back home, the return is often due to providential escape. Take the case of Sudha. The 14-year-old girl of a split family moved several hands on the promise of job and safe upkeep. “At one house, the day I landed, the drivers downstairs targeted me. I was sexually exploited for nearly a year in that multi-storeyed house,” she said. One day, Sudha managed to call the STD booth near her house and pass on the address she was staying at. She was rescued by the people of her locality with police help.
Detective Department chief Gyanwant Singh traces a pattern in the missing links. Data analysis shows, those in the age-group of five to six years are mostly lost and found cases and are mostly reported from slums of the city. A small number account for “kidnapping” cases, engineered mostly by their near and dear ones. Bad school results and family atrocity account for a large number of cases in the age-group of 10-15 years, Singh says.
A new trend, he says, is homosexuality, the expression of which is said to be forcing some, though a small fraction, to flee homes. For example, two Class IX girls of a reputed Kolkata school fled to Siliguri in 2006. Traced to a hotel, the girls reportedly confessed their plans to marry and live together.
A study, sponsored by the National Human Rights Commission, on trafficking of women and children in the city reflects the shocking state of affairs. It says: “It is alarming and it is true... Kolkata seems to be most unsafe for children among all the cities in the country.” The study, in collaboration with the Delhi-based Institute of Social Sciences, over a six-year period from 1996 to 2001, found a whopping 133 per cent rise in the number of children gone missing in Kolkata.
The response of the police missing squads is abysmal. There are two separate units in the state to deal with such cases — the Kolkata police, having jurisdiction over the municipal area of the city, and the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) that looks after the cases in the districts.
“It is true that such cases are dealt as general diary cases in local police stations because missing children cannot be related to any crime. It is also true that apart from recording the diary and occasionally visiting the victim's house, little else is done,” said Banibrata Basu, an inspector general of police, who has served as the head of both the Detective Department of the Kolkata police as well as the Missing Persons Squad of the CID. Basu acknowledges that the problem in Bengal is inextricably linked to human trafficking and, therefore, needs a co-ordinated approach of the police, the panchayats and the NGOs.
But both the units are restricted by shortage of manpower, funds and resources. At times, the cops agree to undertake the journey only if the victim’s party is willing to bear the costs. But that often is an unofficial arrangement and the poor can hardly afford to foot such bills.
Moreover, the missing cases are given the lowest priority since they are not considered crime until linked to kidnapping, trafficking or smuggling. The Missing Persons Squad of the Kolkata police, at present, comprises barely 12 persons, including two inspectors, five sub-inspectors, three assistant sub-inspectors and two constables. Their job is restricted to recording the cases and arranging for publication or flashing of the missing persons’ photographs in newspapers or television channels.
The CID Missing Persons Squad, too, has around 14 members, headed by an inspector and a deputy superintendent of police.
“We have to deal with a tremendous volume of cases. Everyday, at least 20 people come to us. What can we do? The officers are busy recording the statements and talking to the victim’s relatives. Let alone taking up investigations and search operations, the process of maintaining the records and publication of the victim’s details in the media are in themselves difficult to handle,” said an officer, in charge of the department. Then, the officials get a meager travelling allowance for the job.
“We are trying to tackle the issue by way of inter-linking police stations with the CID missing persons' squad to speed up the process. In 2007, we are targeting human trafficking as the thrust area,” said Sanjay Mukherjee, DIG CID (Special), who also holds charge of the Missing Persons Squad. Biswanath Chowdhury, state Minister for Social Welfare and Jails, said, “It is a serious crisis. A state-wide survey is underway with the help of three universities to find out details of missing and trafficked children and women.”

http://www.indianexpress.com/story/25462.html

India facing shortage of women

2007-03-13T00:23:00.000+05:30

By Julia DuinThe Washington Times

"Raising a daughter is like watering your neighbor's garden." -- Punjabi saying

PAONTA SAHIB, India -- By early afternoon, wedding festivities were well under way for Gagandeep Singh, 29, and Taranjeet Kaur, 26, in this touristy town in the Himalayan foothills of the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. Mr. Singh, the groom, works at an American Express office near New Delhi. He is seated cross-legged in a large, gracious white Sikh temple overlooking the Nagar River. His ceremonial finery includes a dagger and ornate turban. Beside him is his bride, her hands heavily hennaed with designs befitting a newly married woman. She is dressed in a magenta-colored gown and spends much of the ceremony gazing down at the floor. Nestled beside her like a flock of bright birds are female relatives dressed in brilliant jewel-colored tunics known as salwar kameez. In front of the couple are Sikh priests. They alternately pray, sprinkle holy water on the crowd and instruct the couple to circle around a low-lying altar as a trio of musicians tap out rhythms on tabla drums and a harmonium. Later, back at the wedding hall, the bride's father, Amarjit Singh, reveals he has given a refrigerator, TV, washing machine, clothes and a DVD player to the family of the groom. "This is not dowry," he protests, "these are just gifts the father likes to give for his daughter." Miss Kaur is his only daughter and later that evening, she sits in her family's living room as guest after guest shoves stacks of rupees into her purse. Eventually, a car pulls up containing the groom's family. Wailing and clutching her parents for the last time, she slowly marches toward the waiting car that will bear her 30 miles southward to Yamunanagar, the city where her new husband's family lives. "Indian brides handle these partings with great theatrics, often wailing uncontrollably," observed American journalist Elisabeth Bumiller in her 1990 book on the trials of Indian women, "May You Be the Mother of a Hundred Sons." "I decided this was the only rational response, given what was in store for many of them," she said. More boys than girls India is facing a shortage of women like Miss Kaur. In most places in the world, a mother can find out the sex of her unborn child, but in India, it's illegal to do so. That is because if she's a female, there is a good chance she will never be born. Roughly 6.7 million abortions occur yearly in India, but aborted girls outnumber boys by 500,000 -- or 10 million over the past two decades -- creating a huge imbalance between males and females in the world's largest democracy. Ratios of men to women are being altered at an unprecedented rate in India and neighboring China, two countries which account for 40 percent of the world's population. According to UNICEF, India produces 25 million babies a year. China produces 17 million. Together, these are one-third of the world's babies, so how their women choose to regulate births affects the globe. Female infanticide -- whereby tiny girls were either poisoned, buried alive or strangled -- has existed for thousands of years in India. But its boy-to-girl ratio didn't begin to widen precipitously until the advent of the ultrasound, or sonogram, machine in the 1970s, enabling a woman to tell the sex of her child by the fourth month of her pregnancy. That coupled with the legalization of abortion in 1971 made it possible to dispose of an unwanted girl without the neighbors even knowing the mother was pregnant. In 2001, 927 girls were born for every 1,000 boys, significantly below the natural birth rate of about 952 girls for every 1,000 boys. In many regions, however, this imbalance has reached alarming levels and it continues to grow. In 2004, the New Delhi-based magazine Outlook reported, sex ratios in the capital had plummeted to 818 girls for every 1,000 boys, and in 2005 they had slipped to 814. The issue is highly sensitive for the Indian government, which had given the nation's sex imbalance scant attention until this month. "It is a matter of international and national shame for us that India, with [economic] growth of 9 percent still kills its daughters," Renuka Chowdhury, the Cabinet-level minister of state for women and child development told the Press Trust of India news agency in an interview that was widely published in the national press. Mrs. Chowdhury announced plans to set up a nationwide network of orphanages where women can drop off unwanted daughters with no questions asked. "We will bring up the children. But don't kill them because there really is a crisis situation," she says. Yet the practice of "female feticide" is so widespread and deeply ingrained in the nation's psyche, scholars and activists fear that even the most vigorous attempts to combat it would require a lifetime or longer to restore nature's balance. "There has always been a deficit of women: Infanticide, neglect or they're left to die if they are sick, but technology has accentuated it," says Prem Chowdhry, a New Delhi-based scholar and specialist on male-female relations in India. "The volume has grown. Culturally, these things are not new, but now they're taking a new shape." Early this year, the British medical journal Lancet estimated the male-female gap at 43 million. Worldwide, Lancet said, there are 100 million "missing girls" who should have been born but were not. Fifty million of them would have been Chinese and 43 million would have been Indian. The rest would have been born in Afghanistan, South Korea, Pakistan and Nepal. China gave an even bleaker assessment last month, with the government saying that its men will outnumber women in the year 2020 by 300 million. One Geneva-based research center, in a 2005 update on the phenomenon, termed it "the slaughter of Eve." "What we're seeing now is genocide," says Sabu George, a New Delhi-based activist. "We will soon exceed China in losing 1 million girls a year." The date may already be here. In a report released Dec. 12, UNICEF said India is "missing" 7,000 girls a day or 2.5 million a year. Although India has passed laws forbidding sex-specific abortions, legions of compliant doctors and lax government officials involved in India's $100 million sex-selection industry have made sure they are rarely enforced. Several companies, notably General Electric Corp., have profited hugely from India's love affair with the ultrasound machine. As a result, a new class of wifeless men are scouring eastern India, Bangladesh and Nepal for available women. India, already a world leader in sex trafficking, is absorbing a new trade in girls kidnapped or sold from their homes and shipped across the country. As sex-specific abortions increase, the destabilizing effects on Indian society are bound to greatly impact a country with expanding economic and strategic ties to the United States. India's estimated $23 billion defense budget relies on military hardware from U.S. corporations, and the U.S. Congress voted in November to permit the sale of nuclear technology to the country. In September, The Washington Times sent a reporter and photographer to spend three weeks in different parts of India chronicling this problem. They asked: What are the cultural reasons for this genocide? Why is the government allowing it? Who is fighting against it and what steps can be taken to stop it?

Four Andhra girls rescued from brothels in Delhi

2007-03-13T00:18:00.000+05:30

Published: 01/03/2007 12:00 AM (UAE)
IANS
New Delhi: Police have rescued four girls from Andhra Pradesh and two minors from brothels in the capital.
The girls were rescued from the brothels in the city's red light area on Monday night after a special Andhra Pradesh police team conducted a raid with the help of the local police of the Kamla Market police station.
"In response to five cases of trafficking registered in Andhra Pradesh, a police team from the state arrived in the city and conducted the raid with our help and rescued the four girls," said Rakesh Giri, Station House Officer of the Kamla Market police station, without disclosing the names of the girls.
While the victims were counselled and interrogated, the Andhra Pradesh police also managed to arrest four of the traffickers.
Giri said that apart from rescuing the four girls from the southern state, they also rescued two minor girls from the brothel.
"We rescued two minors during the raid as well. They have been sent to Nari Niketan, a government-run counselling home," Giri said.
According to the United Nations (UN), Andhra Pradesh records the highest number of human trafficking cases in India.
In an effort to prevent the trade and exploitation of human beings in the country, an Anti-Human Trafficking Unit was established in Andhra Pradesh last month in partnership with the US Government and the United Nations.
The US Government provided $2.5 million (Dh9.1 million) for this project, the largest single anti-trafficking project ever funded in the world.
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime implements the project, and the Indian Government chairs the meetings to help guide the planning and implementation.
Apart from Andhra Pradesh, the project also targets four other states - Bihar, Goa, Maharashtra and West Bengal. The Andhra Pradesh police team that rescued the girls here is a part of the same project.

Parlours selling sex may be treated as brothels

2007-03-13T00:13:00.000+05:30

Dhananjay Mahapatra & Himanshi Dhawan[ 2 Mar, 2007 0039hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK

NEW DELHI: Government proposes to broaden the definition of ‘‘brothel’’ to include those massage and beauty parlours as well as dance bars where prostitution takes place in various guises — a move which could lead to harassment of a wide range of establishments. Working on suggestions of an NGO, Shakti Vahini, government has modified the definition of brothel in the modified Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Amendment Bill, 2006. This was stated by advocate Rajiv Datta after the hearing in Supreme Court on Shakti Vahini’s PIL on trafficking of women. A Bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justices D K Jain and V S Sirpurkar expressed anguish at the slow pace in which the government was working on the suggestions of the petitioner and asked Datta to inform the court about the status of the Bill during the next hearing. Datta said the government has incorporated the changes suggested by the petitioner to make the punishment for offences more stringent and modify the definition of 'brothel' to include "parlours, bars and such places being used for prostitution to bring them under the ambit of the law", he said. These are part of the amendments under consideration by the ministry of women and child development (WCD) and include a more stringent definition of "trafficking in persons" on the lines of International Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons and "enhancing the punishment for a person who keeps or manages or acts or assists in keeping or management of a brothel".

US finds 'numerous serious' human right problems in India

2007-03-13T00:07:00.000+05:30

Indo-Asian News ServiceWashington, March 7, 2007

The United States says the Indian government generally respected the rights of its citizens but still faced "numerous serious problems" like extra-judicial killings of persons in custody, disappearances, torture and rape by police and security forces. It also acknowledged lapses in its own handling of terror suspects.
"While the civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the security forces, there were frequent instances in which some elements acted independently of government authority," said the State Department's annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices released here on Tuesday.
Unusually, the Congressionally mandated annual report card of 196 countries acknowledged that the United States, too, had fallen short of international standards in its handling of terrorist suspects. "Our democratic system of government is not infallible, but it is accountable," it said.
Barry Lowenkron, the assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labour matters, admitted "that we are issuing this report at a time when our own record, and actions we have taken to respond to the terrorist attacks against us, have been questioned. We will continue to respond to the concerns of others."
Amnesty International welcomed Washington's new candour, but its executive director for US, Larry Cox, said that, "until the United States changes its own policies of holding detainees indefinitely, in secret prisons and without basic rights, it cannot credibly be viewed as a world human rights leader."
Suggesting that US Foreign policy hinders human rights work around the world, he said that if the Bush administration persists in allowing other considerations to trump human rights concerns, the real-world impact of these reports will be greatly diminished."
"There are many countries listed in these reports that have questionable human rights records, including Turkey, India, Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia," said Cox.
With the release of this year's reports, Americans are "recommitting ourselves to stand with those courageous men and women who struggle for their freedom and their rights," Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice said.
"And we are recommitting ourselves to call every government to account that still treats the basic rights of its citizens as options rather than, in President Bush's words, the non-negotiable demands of human dignity," she said.
In the case of India, the State Department report noted that it is a longstanding and stable multiparty, federal, parliamentary democracy with a bicameral parliament and a population of approximately 1.1 billion. Manmohan Singh, it noted was named prime minister following his Congress Party-led coalition's victory in the 2004 general elections, which were considered free and fair, despite scattered episodes of violence.
But, the report said serious internal conflicts affected the state of Jammu and Kashmir, as well as several states in the northeast. The Naxalite conflict affected Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, and eastern Maharashtra.
The lack of accountability permeated the government and security forces, creating an atmosphere in which human rights violations often went unpunished. Although the country has numerous laws protecting human rights, enforcement was lax and convictions were rare, it said.
Poor prison conditions, lengthy pre-trial detention without charge, and prolonged detentions while undergoing trial remained significant problems.
Government officials used special antiterrorism legislation to justify the excessive use of force while combating terrorism and active, violent insurgencies in Jammu and Kashmir and several northeastern states, the report said.
Security force officials who committed human rights abuses generally enjoyed de facto impunity, although there were investigations into individual abuse cases as well as punishment of some perpetrators by the court system.
Corruption was endemic in the government and police forces, and the government made little attempt to combat the problem, except for a few instances highlighted by the media, it said.
The government continued to apply restrictions to the travel and activities of visiting experts and scholars, the report said.
Attacks against religious minorities and the promulgation of antireligious conversion laws were concerns. Social acceptance of caste-based discrimination remained a problem, and for many, validated human rights violations against persons belonging to lower castes.
Domestic violence and abuses against women such as dowry-related deaths, honour crimes, female infanticide and feticide, and trafficking in persons remained significant problems. Exploitation of indentured, bonded, and child labour were ongoing problems.
Separatist guerrillas and terrorists in Kashmir, the northeast, and the Naxalite belt committed numerous serious abuses, including killing armed forces personnel, police, government officials, judges, and civilians.
Insurgents also engaged in widespread torture, rape, and other forms of violence, including beheadings, kidnapping, and extortion.
In June 2005 the government passed the Right to Information Act (RTI), mandating stringent penalties for failure to provide information or affecting its flow, and requiring agencies to self-reveal sensitive information. The implementation of the act marked a departure from the culture of secrecy that traditionally surrounded the government's rule making, the report said.

Using minors in prostitution is a billion dollar industry in the city

2007-03-12T23:58:00.000+05:30

Haima Desshpande Friday, March 09, 2007 20:46 IST

For most, Mumbai remains a city of dreams. But, for some, it has become a place full of nightmares.In recent years, the financial capital of the country has emerged as one of the leading markets for trafficked minors who engage in prostitution or, in other words, the commercial sexual abuse of a minor. According to estimates released by international agencies, trafficking of minor girls is a $1-billion-a-year industry, and it is thriving due to increased sex tourism in Mumbai, Goa and adjoining coastal areas. Edging past North-Eastern states, poverty-stricken rural areas of Maharashtra — Beed, Latur, Solapur, Jalgaon, Ahmednagar, Nandurbar, Chandrapur, Washim, Akola, Buldhana, Dhule and the Konkan region — have emerged as one of the biggest suppliers of minors.States such as Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Orissa have also opened up as the new supply markets, says a Mumbai police source.As instances of HIV and AIDS reach alarming proportions, demand for younger, pre-puberty girls has hit an all-time high. Girls as little as seven and eight-years-old are being forced into prostitution, both in the red-light areas and as “professional” call girls (always accompanied by an adult), according to a DNA investigation.Affluent businessmen, some members of the film and advertising industries, diamond merchants and politicians form the “select” clientele who source minors.“Trafficking in minor girls has seen an estimated 30 per cent increase from previous years,” says a social activist working at Kamatipura — the city’s most notorious red-light district.“Poverty due to prolonged drought, mounting farm debts, unemployment and lack of livelihood are the triggering factors, which are forcing parents to send their daughters out of town for employment.”Though migration is also emerging as an important aspect in the minor flesh trade, numbers entering the flesh trade through this route are considerably smaller, explains the activist.“Even when girls are rescued, families are unwilling to take them back,” says the police source. “This has become a common story in the rural areas.” According to conservative estimates released by NGOs, the flesh trade in Mumbai “employs” about four lakh individuals. “Nearly 45 per cent — 1.8 lakh — are minors,” says Triveni Acharya, Founder-President of the Rescue Foundation, an organisation working with commercial sex workers. Nepal and Bangladesh are the biggest exporters of trafficked minors and women in South Asia. Though the police estimate there are about 35,000 Nepalese nationals in Mumbai’s red-light areas, social activists insist the number is closer to one lakh. A majority of them are minors.As per UNICEF estimates, about 12 lakh children are trafficked across international borders each year. Save The Children (India) states that clients today prefer girls as young as 10 years.“The victims are subjected to the worst form of torture if they do not ‘perform’ with the clients,” says another social activist. “Most are denied food, water and toilet facilities, and regular beatings are an ‘integral’ part of their lives.”Every minor girl is subjected to a probation period of three years. During this time, she is not allowed to meet or interact with others in the brothel, and kept in a locked room. The probation period is the gestation time for the brothel keeper to rake in the money.Shockingly, the same people who are supposed to uphold the laws of the country are the ones involved in the trade, says a social activist. “How else do some rescued minors find their way back to the same brothel?” she says. “This trade cannot survive without patrons in the Mumbai police. This is the main reason why the police are incapable of handling child prostitution.”And, it is all about the profits in this business. A fair minor fetches between Rs1-1.5 lakh for a night, and a dusky one is sold for between Rs75,000-1.25 lakh. An adult always accompanies the child to the rendez-vous point, and the clandestine destination is subject to several changes to throw off decoy agents. Though several NGOs are actively involved in rescuing minors, the magnitude of the problem keeps growing. Since 1986, the age of girls entering prostitution has gradually declined. In 1998, the average age of girls was 18 years. By 2000, it was 15. In 2003, minors as young as 12 were freely available.Now, the police source says clients have been asking for minors as young as 8 years old. In 1998, NGO Prerna brought together a consortium of like-minded organisations to address the issue of trafficking of minors.The group formed the Network Against Commercial Sexual Exploitation and Trafficking, to begin a dialogue with women working in the red-light areas. Today, the organisation has about 250 members spread across the state. Most work in the districts from where girls are trafficked.The Rescue Foundation had till December 2006 organised 50 rescue operations. Over 700 people — about 60 per cent were minors — were rescued from the red-light areas of Mumbai and Pune.“The fear of HIV has increased demand for minors,” says Acharya. “However, it is not easy for clients to get them. They are only sourced to a select clientele known to the brothel keepers. Fearing torture, minors do not dare to venture out of the locked rooms.”Though RR Patil, Deputy Chief Minister and in-charge of Home Department, mooted the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) to include brothel owners, pimps and others found guilty of trafficking women and children, it has yet to be implemented. During 2004 and 2005, the police sealed 21 brothels for housing minors soliciting clients on their premises. Currently, the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act and provisions of the Indian Penal Code punishes offenders. If a minor girl is found on the premises of a dubious establishment, the said premise is sealed for a maximum period of three years, and the accused can be punished for a minimum period of 10 years. The Mumbai police recently launched a special juvenile aid police unit (JAPU) to tackle the menace. The unit has been staffed with trained personnel.(Inputs by Dayanand Kamath)
For sale
Fair minor: Between Rs1-1.5 lakh for a nightDusky minor: Between Rs75,000-1.25 lakh for a nightAge profile
1998: Girls as young as 18 years2000: Girls as young as 15 years2003: Girls as young as 12 years
Today: Girls as young as 8 years
The horrors of the trade Client listAffluent businessmen, members of film and advertising industries, diamond merchants and politicians form the “select” clientele.Shocking riseTrafficking in minor girls has seen an estimated 30 per cent increase from previous years. The dark sideVictims are subjected to the worst form of torture if they do not ‘perform’ with the clients. Most are denied food, water and toilet facilities. Regular beatings are an ‘integral’ part of their lives.

http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1083952