Saying that the children are likely to be one of the biggest unseen victims of COVID-19 pandemic, Child Rights and You (CRY)—an organisation working on issues of children—has warned of a likelihood of a big spike in child-trafficking incidents in the post-lockdown days.
In a statement issued on the occasion of World Day against Human Trafficking, CRY has said ‘even though there is scarcity of available data to substantiate the truth, ground-level evidences suggest that child trafficking, especially for forced labour and marriage among other reasons, is about to see worrying spikes as the lockdown begins to ease off, allowing transportation and movements to resume slowly.’
The organisation further says that documented experiences of previous disasters like the Ebola virus outbreak, floods and earthquakes suggest that there is multi-fold increase in vulnerabilities immediately after any large scale humanitarian crisis, often leading to cases of unsafe migrations, and this holds true for cases of trafficking as well.
“There are massive livelihood issues resulting in increase of multi-dimensional poverty, escalated by the pandemic and back to back natural disasters like cyclones in West Bengal and Maharashtra, locust attacks in central India and floods in Assam and Bihar. Hence, the fear is, coming months will witness huge numbers of unsafe migrations and child trafficking,” the organisation has warned.
CRY has pointed out that trends as reflected by the recent National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data indicates that children have consistently accounted for more than 40 per cent of trafficking victims in the country over the last five years. Girls constitute a majority of the victims as in 2017 and 2018; more than 80 per cent of trafficked children were girls.
Priti Mahara, director, policy research and advocacy of CRY, says, “NCRB 2018 data indicates that commercial sexual exploitation, forced labour and forced marriage account for a majority of the human trafficking (almost 60 per cent of all trafficking cases). This single piece of information is enough to suggest how vulnerable our children had already been before the pandemic struck, and we are seriously concerned as to what extent it will affect them in the time to come, especially the children coming from the marginalised and economically vulnerable communities.”
According to the ground-level experiences gathered by CRY and its partner organisations working on child protection issues, cases of trafficking and missing children were less prevalently reported during the lockdown months primarily due to suspension of transport, and movement of people. Railways and road transport being the most commonly used medium of transit for trafficked children, the number of cases are likely to increase with trains and buses resuming service.
Apprehending a spurt in child trafficking and child abuse brought about by the pandemic, the Calcutta High Court has already directed the West Bengal government to take all possible steps to protect children. The High Court order came in the wake of a report on child trafficking and child marriage submitted by the West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights (WBCPCR) that provides data from March 20 to April 14, on cases of child marriage, child trafficking, sexual abuse against children and other incidents of violation of child rights, the CRY statement says.
Also, the Supreme Court of India has sought the Centre and the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA)'s reply on the alleged rise in child trafficking cases during the COVID-19 lockdown in the country.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has come up with an advisory for all states and Union Territories on preventing and combating human trafficking especially during the period of COVID-19 pandemic, the statement pointed out.
“These incidences clearly underscore the gravity of the situation and indicate that the top levels of the executive and the judiciary acknowledge the situation. We also hope that the long pending Trafficking of Persons (Prevention, Protection and Rehabilitation) Bill, 2018, which was passed in Lok Sabha but is still waiting in the Rajya Sabha is made more robust and child-centric and linked with existing child protection structures to address the crisis adequately,” Mahara said.