Human trafficking continues to ail NE

Guwahati, July 15: For some it is the lure of easy money or a false promise of a 'better' future', for others it is the last resort.

Whatever the reason, the girls of North East, especially Assam, are falling easy prey to human trafficking racket.

Though correct statistics of women trafficked outside the region is hard to compile due to the illegal nature of the trade, studies done in the region point towards an ever expanding network of traffickers.

While many of the women end up as cheap factory workers or domestic help, many are forced into the flesh trade.

A recent survey by Global Organisation of Life Development (GOLD), a-Guwahati based NGO working actively to check human trafficking in NE, revealed that Assam alone accounts for about 48 per cent of the women trafficked outside from the entire NE region. Local media had quoted an Assam Police report, compiled by its Research Branch, that more than 3000 women and 3500 girl children had gone missing in the state since 1996, with an average of two females per day.

The various independent studies of the causes leading the victims into the net of trafficking have identified acute poverty as among the primary reasons. Another reason is displacement due to natural calamities, ethnic clashes as also developmental activities like construction of dams, bridges and roads.

Not just the illerate, rural women, but educated women also fall prey to the flase promises and hopes of a bright future and enter the trafficking net.

Displacement has been a major concern for the expansion of human trafficking network in the districts of Kokrajhar, Barpeta, Rangia in Assam.

According to Norweigian Refugee Council (NRC), about two lakh people were displaced in 2003 in the state and about 15,000 in neighbouring Tripura.

A study conducted by Nedan's Field Team revealed that many girls had been trafficked from Nagaland also, with false promise of lucrative sales job in big cities.

It was found that all the missing women of Assam had not been taken out of the state. Some had got involved in making pornographic films within Assam.

As per the confessional statements of the rescued girls, they were mostly lured with the promise of a high-paying job. But they get sucked into prostitution, with the net closing in them so tightly that very few are ever rescued.

An Assam Police survey confirmed that a network of organised racket of recruiters lure good-looking women with job offers outside the state and most end up as call girls.

The problem of human trafficking is not merely confined to the NE, but has grown strong in the neighbouring countries also.

In a report published by UNICEF and SAARC, about 4,500 Bangladeshi women and girls were trafficked to Pakistan. About five lakh women of foreign origin, including Bangladeshis, are working as prostitutes in different parts of India.

The study of an organisation revealed that even more than a decade ago between 1991 to 1993, 150 females were illegally transported from Bangladesh to Pakistan per day.

UNI