NCW Chairperson reiterates need for wider awareness to combat trafficking

ANTI-HUMAN TRAFFICKING WORKSHOP GETS UNDERWAY
GANGTOK, 05 Mar: Chairperson, National Commission for Women, Mamta Sharma, today stressed the need to generate mass awareness from the grassroot level up and efforts from all concerned sides to address the issue of human trafficking.
Ms Sharma, who is on a visit to the state, was speaking at the inaugural session of a three-day state-level Anti-Human Trafficking workshop organized by the State Government at the Police headquarter conference hall today.
Officials from Sikkim Police and various state government departments along with counselors and members from different organizations of Sikkim and North Bengal working on human trafficking attended the workshop.
In her inaugural address, Ms Sharma appreciated the initiative of the Sikkim Police on an important issue such as human trafficking. She stressed on the need for all concerned sections of the society to come on a single platform in order to work towards wiping out human trafficking. Upliftment of women and strict implementation of rules are important to get the desired results, expressed Ms Sharma.
She stated that the decline in the sex ratio in many states in the country is also an important issue and various organizations working in this field need to address this issue seriously. She further stressed upon the need for regional cooperation to identify and address cross border trafficking issues.
Sikkim State Commission for Women Chairperson, Subhadra Rai also stated that trafficking of women and children is a matter of great concern for the nation as this has given way to massive organized crime. The north-eastern region has become the hotspot for human trafficking and its volume has been increasing every year, she mentioned.
In the case of Sikkim, she pointed out that the problem of human trafficking is almost nil as it is a small state which makes it easy to track such cases and the administration and police can be contacted easily.
Ms Rai expressed that in order to tackle the issue it was an important to understand the cultural, social and economical background of the community in which such cases are prevalent and the focus should be on prevention and rehabilitation.
Founder of Impulse NGO Network, Shillong, Hasina Kharbhib, gave a brief presentation on the human trafficking situation of the world, Asia, India and North Eastern states with the help of data from concerned organizations and agencies.
Mentioning that women and children are most at risk she stressed on the need to check the credentials of recruitment companies in the region by the concerned organizations.
Speaking on the Impulse intervened cases in Sikkim, Ms Kharbhib informed that there were two cases intervened by her organization, which involved 17 children and women.
The inaugural function started with the welcome address by ADGP [Training], Janga Basnet, and concluded with the vote of thanks by SP [Training], KB Gurung.
The inaugural session was followed by the technical session of the workshop, which will be covering different issues related to human trafficking during the three days of the workshop.