Every8Minutes and Missing launches a national campaign on Child Trafficking

New Delhi, November 24, 2015

Every8Minutes and Missing launches a national campaign on CHILD TRAFFICKING during the 16 Days of Activism on Violence Against Women and Girls
25 November -10 December 2015

Every8Minutes and Missing, in collaboration with 10 NGOs across India, will launch a national campaign on child trafficking on 25 November, 2015. The campaign coincides with the 16 Days of Activism on Violence Against Women and Girls, which is held from 25 November - 10 December.

Using art for activism, NGOs working on child trafficking and education in different cities will paint silhouettes of young girls using the hashtag #Every8minutes and #missingirls on public walls in vulnerable areas across India. The campaign will raise awareness and provide solutions about how hundreds of girls and young women go missing everyday in India.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau, every 8 minutes a child goes missing in India, of which 40% of those children haven’t been found. This campaign is crucial at a time where 55% of those missing are girls and 45% of all missing children have remained untraceable till now, raising fears of them having been either killed or pushed into begging or prostitution rackets. The law on missing children in India needs to be more stringent and defined. In fact, there is no legal definition of a ‘missing child’, hence the numbers of children going missing everyday has been increasing at an alarming rate.

The Anti-Child Trafficking campaign will be implemented in eight cities across India. Every8Minutes and Missing is collaborating with organisations like Association for the Promotion of Social Change (APSA), Bangalore, Pardada Pardadi Educational Society (PPES), Anupshar, Uttar Pradesh, Jamghat, Delhi, Rapid Action For Human Advancement Tradition (RAHAT), Kishanganj, Bihar, Nedan Foundation, Kokrajjar, Assam, Vatsalya, Jaipur, Prerna, Mumbai, Udayan Care, Delhi, Humari Muskan, Kolkata and STOP- Trafficking of Women and Girls, Delhi to run the campaign in their local communities.

Through the campaign, local communities will be provided with child helpline numbers and contact details of local NGOs working on child trafficking so that if they see any child in danger or a child has gone missing, they may immediately contact them and seek help. Street plays, drawing and painting competitions, discussion on child trafficking and the painting of the #missingirls silhouette will be some of the activities which will take place in each of these cities.

About Every8Minutes

Launched by iPartner India, Every8Minutes is the first campaign of its kind that aims to stop child trafficking. It works at over twenty locations through their anti-child trafficking partners across India to end this modern-day slavery. From prevention to rescue to healing – the slow journey begins towards bringing the life back into these children’s eyes.

About Missing

Missing is a public art project started by Leena Kejriwal. Leena is a photographer, an installation artist and a social activist. For the past few years, Leena has been working with several local NGOs working on the issue of human trafficking and prostitution of young girls. Her public artwork Missing aims to take this issue to the public. Missing has been creating #missingirls stencils across India, working with local NGOs, students, artists and volunteers to create an everyday reminder of the missing girls.

More details about the campaign can be found at:
www.wishberry.in/campaign/missing /www.every8minutes.org / www.ipartnerindia.org
www.facebook.com/missingpublicart /www.facebook.com/every8minutes /www.facebook.com/missingpublicart
www.twitter.com/missingirls / www.twitter.com/ipartnerindia
www.instagram.com/missingirls