Understanding Human Trafficking

The ‘Winter Sojourn’ programme is an annual field study organised by Sikkim University on various themes with a view towards documenting and understanding issues of the region. Winter Sojourn 2012, was organized along 17 different themes like Amliso Broom, Earthquake, Women Vendors, Hydel Power Projects, Migrant Labourers and Human Trafficking. The purpose of the field studies approached through an interdisciplinary perspective is to sensitive and supplement classroom learning with the problems of the society through awareness, documentation and advocacy.
The team “Human Trafficking” had a total of 34 teaching staff and students from the University, affiliated colleges as well as schools. The teachers included Dr. Suman Negi, Dr. Satyabrat Sinha and Ms. Samida Vedabala from SU and Ms. Susan Rai and Bindhya Rai from the affiliated Colleges. Diki Bhutia, Abhijit Bajracharya, Romana Lepcha, Yugul Khanal, Shankar Prasad, Rizwan and Makuta were the group leaders amongst the students.  The team chose Siliguri and its adjoining areas, Darjeeling, Mirik and Kurseong as its survey location. The area was selected due to its strategic political setting, porous International borders and state borders that are conduits for trafficking. The main objectives of the study was to identify underlying factors responsible for trafficking of women and children, analyze the geographical, social, cultural, demographic and economic situations of these exploited children and women, measure the vulnerability of porous borders as main transit routes for trafficking and assess the function of the State and Civil Society in curbing Human Trafficking. The field work was scheduled for ten days from the 21st till the 31st of January.
Due to social stigma and the sensitive nature of the issue, Human Trafficking research cannot be conducted without the assistance of agencies already working in the arena. The team sought help of various NGO’s, CINI (Child in Need Institute), CONC’RN (Care of Needy Children Rightfully Nurtured), DMSC (Durbar Mahila Samanaya Committee), ICSRS (Ideal Centre for Social Research and Self Reliance of the Child), Mary Ward Social Centre, World Vision, Mukti Network, Asha Bari, WBVHA (West Bengal Voluntary Health Association), Vaasta, Emmanuel Anath Asram Society, Marg, Lakshay. The team also visited the various shelter/transit homes of organizations like Waasta, Nayee Disha etc. and the Transit home run by Maity Nepal at Kakrivitta. Apart from the NGO’s which provided access to interacting with victims/survivors and professionals who work for these organisations and in order to underscore the reliability of the study, the team also interacted with the Officers of police stations in and around Siliguri. A team of 10 members left Siliguri to visit and survey Mirik, Darjeeling and Kurseong. The team enquired with the Police Officials in Mirik, Sukhia Pokhri, Darjeeling, Jore Bunglow and Kurseong. The team also paid a short visit to Maiti Nepal Shelter Home in Pasupati Nagar, Nepal. The team interacted with various NGO’s in Darjeeling and Kurseong as FOSEP TI, MARG, Lakshya, Nari Aayog, Child Line, Manas Bangla, Edith Wilkins Street Child Trust, etc.
There are a number of NGO’s among and beyond the above listed ones who are working to curb the menace of Human Trafficking in the study area. Most of these NGO’s are about a decade old and they are directly or indirectly associated with the rescue, rehabilitation of trafficked individuals and also involved with raising awareness, advocacy to sensitize the target community, help victims with capacity building and livelihood development for leading mainstream lives, making available shelter homes and facilitating health checkups and contraceptives for sex workers. One of the appreciative aspects of the various NGO’s functioning was that they worked in collaboration with each other. Amongst these NGO’s Kanchenjunga Udhaar Kendra is the prime organisation involved in tracing victims and conducting the rescue work with the assistance of the police force. We were also informed that 70% of the trafficked victims are not rescued.
In our interactions with victims of Human Trafficking mainly women and children we learnt of the difficulties of their respective lives. We also met the West Bengal Voluntary Health Association (WBVHA), which comprised of an association of Flying Sex Workers (FSW) in and around Siliguri town. It is estimated that there are over, 3000 FSW, in the Siliguri region, a huge number especially in contrast to 636 sex workers in the Khalpara Red light area. The team also met and interacted with many of these sex workers some of whom were HIV positive under the treatment of ART (Anti Retro Viral Treatment) being provided by WBVHA.
As per the various NGO’s, the susceptibility of women and children begins at home, in the community or the village, with someone known to the family being the first person in the chain. Many children and girls trafficked are engaged in house hold works, circuses and are exploited physically and sexually. There are many instances of children sold by their own parents and other family members. They are engaged in the various industries like-in the Hotels, Teagarden, Households, factories, Circuses, Begging and Sex industry. The trafficking of human beings also raises substantial moral and ethical issues like, abject poverty, ambition for a better life and escaping the violence of the home, broken homes that increase the vulnerability of individuals in such circumstances.
The team was lucky to have the Vice-chancellor Prof. Mahendra P Lama join the team during a visit to the CINI office and shelter home at Siliguri which currently houses 15 girls below the age of 18. Most of them were orphans who were rescued by different NGO’s.  Prof. Lama interacted with the children and also asked NGO’s like CINI and others to participate in joint collaboration with institutions like Sikkim University to fight against Human Trafficking.
Overall this field study was a learning experience as an outcome of its objective, but it was also an emotional expedition for all of us as each story told by these victims left a distressing imprint that eradicated biasness for those involved in professions looked down upon by society. What we as a team achieved was to look at them at Humans.  
Human Trafficking Team