Consultation on Tackling Newer Emerging Vulnerabilities Leading to Trafficking in Children and Women in Bihar

Inaugural Session:  

The session started with a Biblical Reflection by the Rt. Rev. P. P. Marandih and an inaugural worship led by The Rev. Enos Pradhan, General Secretary, Church of North India . Mr. Sudipta Singh, Director, Programmes, CNI while welcoming the participants from different parts of Bihar, different States of India and the international participants, representing different countries introduced the subject under discussion and requested all stakeholders to take active part in discussing the context of human trafficking in Bihar and how it could be prevented and combated by developing a multi-stakeholder action plan.  

Rev. Dr. Enos Pradhan, in his welcome address, said that this august gathering is here to respond to the call of God for doing something that is valuable to the human kind. He urged to the participants to be open in their discussions about the situation of women and children in Bihar and what could be done to prevent human trafficking. He said that this gathering represents various concerned stakeholders and he expressed his deep desire that the two day long consultation will be able to provide an action plan that is agreeable among the stakeholders to implement in its fullest strength.  

The Consultation on “Tackling newer emerging vulnerabilities leading to trafficking in children and women in Bihar” was organized by Diocese of Patna, Church of North India 11^th - 12^th January, 2008 in Patna , Bihar . It was inaugurated by the Deputy Chief Minister Mr. Sushil Modi, the Honorable Speaker of the Bihar Assembly, Mr. U N Chowdhury, Dr. P. M. Nair, coordinator, Anti-trafficking Unit, UNODC ROSA, Rev. Dr. Enos Das Pradhan and Rev. Dn. Adrian Watkins, Regional Manager – South Asia, Church Mission Society by lighting the Lamp. The Honorable Deputy Chief Minister and the Honorable Speaker (Bihar legislative Assembly) released Hindi and Nepali posters jointly produced by UNODC, CNI and Government of India that highlights the mode and consequences of human trafficking for generating public awareness and sensitizing different stakeholders to bring about an attitudinal change.    

Honorable Deputy Chief Minister, in his address welcomed the august gathering and congratulated CNI for organizing such a consultation in Patna. Highlighting the need to intervene in the areas of social concerns primarily on women’s empowerment and child rights, he mentioned that Government of Bihar is sensitive and committed to issues of violence against women and children. He attributed these atrocities against women as fallout of the societal deprivation that women face in their own families and the negative attitude that girls are confronted within their daily lives as most parents believe that girls are a burden. He mentioned about several schemes that Government of Bihar has introduced for the empowerment of women and to sustain the interest of education among girls in rural areas. He also highlighted the Government’s initiative to formulate a State Plan of Action to combat human trafficking in Bihar . He ended his address by stating that the Government of Bihar would be committed to integrate the action plan of this consultation along with the State action plan to combat trafficking in women and children in Bihar .  

Mr. U. N. Chowdhury, Honorable Speaker, Bihar Legislative Assembly, also echoed similar concerns raised by the Honorable Dy. Chief Minister. He stated that gender discrimination is the primary cause for violence against women and girl children in Bihar . He mentioned poverty in Bihar as one of the main reasons that pushes women and girl children into a vulnerable situation that leads to exploitation. He also emphasized the commitment of Government of Bihar to take the discussions of this consultation forward.  

The inaugural session ended with the greetings from the representatives of UNODC, CMS, ERD, PCUSA and ATSEC. The representatives congratulated CNI for organizing such consultation in Patna and to provide a platform for multi-stakeholder interaction to develop a plan of action for combating human trafficking.  

Mr. Regi George, Principal, Christ Church School, gave the vote of thanks to Honorable guests of the inaugural session for their presence and valuable inputs in the mission to combat trafficking of women and children in Bihar.  

Session I: Trafficking in Women and Children in the context of Globalisation and CNIs response  

The speakers of the panel, Mr. Sudipta Singh and Ms. Sanjana Das provided a conceptual understanding of trafficking in Women and Children in the context of globalisation.  

Ms. Sanjana Das, former co-ordinator, CNI presented a situational analysis on trafficking in women and children in South Asia in general and the in the State of Bihar in particular. She presented the different definitions related to trafficking in women and children to bring about a conceptual understanding on the issue.  The presentation stated that it is impossible to know and statistics are difficult to obtain because trafficking is an underground activity. A US Government report published in 2004 estimates that 600,000-800,000 people worldwide are trafficked across borders each year. This figure does not include those who are trafficked internally. According to an ILO estimate, 15% of the country's estimated 2.3 million prostitutes are children. The traffic is controlled largely by organised crime. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2000, February 2001. Speaking about how human trafficking has taken the form of modern day slavery; she shared the cause and consequences of trafficking in the Indian context. At the end she narrated the Church of North India ’s intervention in combating human trafficking in the eastern Himalayan area where the closure of tea gardens has made the children and women vulnerable to trafficking. She informed the gathering about how CNI is making use of its local resources in terms of women, youth and pastors to reach out to the larger community. CNI also involves different stakeholders such as the media, police, administration, NGOs and civil society to tackle this problem in the region. The presentation ended with the response of CNI in combating trafficking in women and Children. The presentation stated that CNI has an intensive base with the community in source areas and has been able to intervene through CNI’s resource pool of institutes, organizations and community based groups by integration of awareness on trafficking in the existing programmes.   

Speaking on globalization and women in India , Mr. Sudipta Singh, Director Programs, Church of North India explained how globalisation and feminization of poverty has increased the vulnerabilities of women to trafficking and has lowered the status of women in Indian society by further pushing them to the periphery. He shared how globalisation has affected the production of life, with gendered consequences, in terms of access to health, access to water and fuel, education: food and nutrition, consumerism and homogenization of cultures and other aspects of social development. He further explained how globalisation has affected production of livelihoods, with gendered consequences. He mentioned about endowments and production possibilities with liberalization of land legislation under the tenth five-year plan (2002-2007), agricultural land can be used for industrial purposes in India . Several small and marginal farmers are being lured and at times even forced to sell their land. As more women are employed in agriculture than men these developments affect women more than men. Globalisation has led to privatization of commons. This can be seen especially with regard to water resources, having more adverse consequences for women. Production possibilities out of land have decreased with soil and ground water erosion.  

Panel II: Anti-Trafficking activities and multi-stakeholder approach in the region

The panelist, Mr. C. K. Mishra, UNAIDS while highlighting the need for multi-stakeholder intervention to combat human trafficking of women and children in Bihar mentioned the link between human trafficking and HIV/AIDS and the role of UNAIDS in terms of prevention. Ms. Priti Srivastava, Consultant UNICEF and Govt. of Bihar highlighted the programme of Department of Women and Children, Bihar . Welcoming this initiative by the Diocese of Patna, CNI, she suggested the recommendations from this Consultation could feed into the State Plan of Action. She also highlighted the multi Stakeholders Approach of UNICEF and the State Government by involving CID, NGOs, Labour Department and UN agencies in combating human trafficking in Bihar.  

Session II: Human Trafficking and Law Enforcement responses: Dr. P M Nair

Dr. P. M Nair, Coordinator, Anti-trafficking Unit, UNODC ROSA, made the gathering aware of the different legal provisions as applied in India to prevent trafficking, protect victims and prosecute traffickers and de-criminalise women in prostitution. He referred to Article 23 of the Constitution of India that specifically prohibits traffic in human beings including begging and other forms of forced labour and stated that any contravention of this provision is an offence punishable in accordance with law. He further mentioned that Article 39 (f) of the Directive Principles of State Policy states that children are given opportunities and facilities to develop in a healthy manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity and that childhood and youth are protected against exploitation and against moral and material abandonment. He further elaborated on the different legal provisions such as Immoral Traffic Prevention Act 1956, Juvenile Justice Act 2000, Indian Penal Code 1860, Procedural Laws, Special Laws and Supreme Court and High Court Rulings. While highlighting the effective law implementation mechanisms by punishing traffickers, confiscation of assets and expediting actions, Dr. Nair mentioned about the issues and problems in implementation. He then spoke about the missing children’s link to trafficking and shared briefly his experience of the NGOs work while doing the Action Research of Trafficking in Children and Women.  

Panel II: Role of stakeholders in Implementing Anti-Trafficking programmes: Chair: Dr. P. M. Nair

This session highlighted the need for multi-stakeholder response. Mr. Jaishankar Gupta spoke on the Role of Media and emphasised the need for responsible sensitive reporting in print and electronic media. He firmly stated that the role of media is to act as a pressure group to raise public awareness and government accountability for upholding the rights of every citizen, and most importantly, women and children, those are violated of their rights. Mr. Amitava Bhattacharya highlighted the role of alternative media. He emphasized on theatre as an alternative form of communication which has an extensive reach especially in rural areas. Mr. Vijay Prakash spoke about the schemes of the Government of Bihar and highlighted on the need for multi-stakeholder interventions and shared about the different schemes of government to empower women and girls of Bihar .  

Ms. Chitrali Bhattarcharya provided a detail role of NGO’s in combating trafficking of women and children in Bihar . She mentioned the role of NGO’s as complementary to Government programmes. She highlighted a definite role for NGO’s in: Raising awareness at local levels, facilitating community based preventive mechanisms in trafficking prone areas, identifying most vulnerable families in areas, building awareness on government welfare schemes and facilitating its availability to the most vulnerable ones, providing quality care and services to the victims/survivors of trafficking and most importantly facilitating reintegration and rehabilitation process to prevent re-trafficking.  

Mr. A K Gupta stated that police priority is to stabilize the law and order situation. It works towards reducing the incidence of crime in any given jurisdiction. In combating human trafficking, police plays a role of crime controller and tries to arrest the offender, collect adequate and appropriate evidences and prosecution of the offender, if found guilty. He also emphasized the role of police in rescue operation and the post rescue care as the confidence building process with the rescued person, is an important step to ensure prosecution of the offenders.  

Session III: Restoring the Dignity of women and children: An Interfaith Perspective: Chair person: Rev. Dr. Enos Das Pradhan, General Secretary, CNI.