Press Release
oi-Oneindia Staff
On the occasion of World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, Just Rights for Children launched ‘National Campaign Against Child Trafficking’, during the national consultation on ‘Ensuring a Child’s Rights, Potential, & Prosperity’.
Just Rights for Children launched a national campaign on World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, aiming to make 1.5 lakh villages trafficking-free and rescue 1 lakh children within a year across 36 States/UTs.
The campaign is a part of a historic national movement spanning 36 States and Union Territories, 782 districts, with over 250 partner organisations to strengthen child protection through the rule of law. Over the next year, the movement aims to transform 1.5 lakh villages into trafficking-free communities and rescue one lakh trafficked children.
Just Rights for Children is the largest grassroots network in the country bringing together district administrations, law enforcement agencies, child welfare committees, Panchayati Raj institutions, and civil society organisations to identify, rescue, rehabilitate, and reintegrate children trapped in trafficking.
Efforts to identify and prosecute traffickers, dismantle trafficking networks, and strengthen legal interventions will also be a key focus of the campaign to ensure justice for every trafficked child.
Crime in India 2024 report shows that, on average, six children are trafficked every day, while five are forced into child labour. Additionally, nearly 11 children go missing every hour, and a significant proportion of them become victims of trafficking.
Human trafficking is the world’s third-largest organised crime after illegal arms and drug trafficking. Child labour in the informal sector remains one of the most prevalent forms of child trafficking and exploitation.
As part of the national campaign, extensive awareness programmes will be conducted at the village level through Gram Sabhas, schools, and Panchayats, using pamphlets, posters, and community outreach to educate families on different forms of child trafficking, methods used by traffickers and legal remedies available to victims. The campaign will also pay special attention to trafficking-prone source areas, transit and border districts, while promoting community vigilance to identify and report trafficking.
The movement also seeks to improve convergence with Central and State government schemes so that vulnerable and marginalised children remain in school, receive social protection benefits, and access skill development opportunities, reducing their vulnerability to trafficking.
Bhuwan Ribhu, Founder, Just Rights For Children, said, “The commitment demonstrated by our Parliament in enacting some of the world’s strongest anti-trafficking laws must now be matched by implementation on the ground in both letter and spirit. Mandatory reporting, time-bound rescue, investigation, trial, and rehabilitation can create a strong legal deterrent against the organised crime of trafficking. By ending impunity, we can end child trafficking by 2030.”
