World Day Against Trafficking in Persons
New Delhi, 29 July 2016
#every8minutes National Campaign
Every 8 minutes a child goes missing in India.
Nafisa (name changed to protect her identity) was trafficked by a man half her age through the false promise of marriage. Aged 15, she was sold to a brothel for only 15,000 rupees in Kolkata, hundreds of miles away from her village in one of India’s poorest states, Bihar. “He promised to give me a happy and comfortable life, something poverty had never allowed us in my parent’s house,” she said.
“Everything seemed fine for the first three months. But after that, he began to sexually and physically abuse me. I was put through hell,” Nafisa, now 17, added. At 14 million people, India has the highest number of enslaved people in the world, according to the 2016 Global Slavery Index Report. One out of every third enslaved Indian is a child, like Nafisa.
But she was among the lucky few to have escaped a life of modern-day slavery. Rescued in 2014 when local police raided the brothel she had been sold to, Nafisa was repatriated by a Bihar-based anti-trafficking organisation that iPartner India supports and was reunited with her family. “I feel fortunate to be back home and be accepted back by my family,” she said.
Many children are trafficked daily in India for sexual slavery, bonded labour, cheap domestic work and beggary. Girls are particularly vulnerable. In Delhi alone, police data shows that 22 children go missing each day.
The Every8minutes campaign by iPartner India aims to spread awareness about the exploitation and abuse trafficked children face, and get more people to report suspected traffickers and victims to the authorities by dialing 1098, India’s ChildLine number.
“Child trafficking and slavery thrives because there’s a demand for cheap labour in this country. We want people to intervene and say something when their neighbour’s maid is a child, when they are being served by a child in a restaurant, or they see a child working in a brick kiln or construction site," said Sumitra Mishra, iPartner India’s country director.
To mark World Day Against Trafficking in Persons on 30 July, the Every8Minutes campaign is collaborating with 17 partner organizations across 11 states in India. Across the country, children will use street plays, dance, sing, hold rallies and take part in drawing competitions to spread awareness on the practice of trafficking. Schoolchildren, teachers, community members, NGOs, police, local administration and media will actively participate to mark the day.
iPartner India will be partnering with:
- Association for the Promotion of Social Change (APSA), Bangalore
- PardadaPardadi Educational Society (PPES), Anupshar Uttar Pradesh,
- Rapid Action For Human Advancement Tradition (RAHAT), Kishanganj, Bihar,
- Nedan Foundation, Kokrajjar, Assam
- Vatsalya, Jaipur
- Gram Nijoyan Kendra Bharatpur
- Prerana, Mumbai
- End Poverty, Haryana
- Udayan Care, Phagwara
- Ankur, Himachal Pradesh
- Dehat, Uttar Pradesh
- We The People, Delhi
- STOP, Delhi
- Kat-Katha, Delhi
- Jamghat, Delhi
- CHETNA, Delhi
- Jan Sahas, Madhya Pradesh
About Every8Minutes
Launched in 2014 by iPartner India, Every8Minutes is a campaign that aims to stop child trafficking in India by building awareness and with the participation of local communities.
www.ipartnerindia.org/ www.every8minutes.org
* This Press Release was sent to e-pao.net by Mary D Khuvung who can be contacted at mary(AT)ipartnerindia(DOT)org
This Press Release was posted on July 30 2016
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