Floods have made Assam source, transit point of trafficking: Kailash Satyarthi

NEW DELHI: Assam has turned out to be both a source and a transit point for human trafficking rackets, mainly due destruction caused by flood and its aftermath almost every year, Nobel Peace laureate Kailash Satyarthi said today.

Assam is now a major source for human trafficking rackets based in Delhi-NCR and the children trafficked from there are mostly placed as domestic helps at residences either in the national capital region or towns in Haryana.

Many, who fail to be placed anywhere, are later forced into prostitution or begging, Satyarthi told PTI.

Assam is also a transit point for children who are trafficked from Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya. However, these two states are targeted particularly by human trafficking rackets based in Kolkata and Mumbai, said Satyarthi.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner has urged the Assam government to adopt a three-pronged approach to check trafficking of children from the state.

"I have suggested the creation of a 'Rehabilitation and Welfare Fund' under Kailash Satyarthi Children's Foundation (KSCF) in Assam, in which the state government and the foundation are expected to contribute in equal proportions, for immediate relief to trafficked children," said Satyarthi, adding that so far Assam government has contributed Rs 1 crore to the welfare fund.

Satyarthi also mentioned about instances where the trafficked children managed to escape and reach Guwahati, but had no resources to go any further. Later, they were hunted down by the traffickers and taken back forcibly from the railway station.

"In many cases, the children belonged to the flood-hit districts of Assam and they could not reach home because of the calamity, despite having reached the concerned region. Many of those children were held by the traffickers and taken back from places not very far away from home," said Satyarthi.