Keep children safe from traffickers in India

Dear Friends,

It has been three months since we launched Every8Minutes campaign and we are happy to share some of our updates about the campaign.

Manju (name changed) was only 15 years old when she was first trafficked from Jharkhand to Delhi. She was lured by a placement agency on the pretext of finding her a decent job in Delhi.  Upon enquiry, Manju’s parents found that the address given was a fake. This was how her parents found out that she had been trafficked for domestic servitude. “I was very scared as I have never left my hometown. Initially I was happy that I will get proper food and shelter, however, my employer turned out to be terrible. I was made to work for more than 15 hours a day. I could never leave the house and they fed me leftover food. I really missed my parents and my home. Although we were poor at least I was happier back in my hometown.”

Every8Minutes has partnered with HAQ – Centre for Child Rights to drive the Campaign against Child Trafficking (CACT). In January this year a national consultation of CACT partners from 13 states came together in New Delhi to develop a framework to track the status of missing children in India.

The most recent data on missing children put out by the Home Ministry in the Parliament shows that over 325,000 children went missing between 2011 and 2014 (till June 2014) at an average of nearly 100,000 children going missing every year. In Jharkhand, 32,000 to 35,000 girls have been recorded to be trafficked every year out of which 87% of the girls are below the age of 18 years, and among which about 78% of the girls are within the age of 10-14 years. Many tribal children and women are trafficked to other states for the purpose of domestic services, as they are considered to be very hard working.

Your support to Every8Minutes is based on the fundamental belief that trafficking of children is one of the gravest violations of human rights of children. It is this bold stand you have taken that enables us to save girls like Manju and send traffickers like Arjun to the jail.

Every8Minutes is now taking the campaign of anti child trafficking to 13 states of India to ensure child traffickers are punished swiftly and trafficked victims are compensated and rehabilitated immediately. The campaign will pressurize Anti Human Trafficking Units and National Tracking Systems to monitor all suspicious movement of children and to promptly report the crime.

Thank you for your continued support and solidarity.

Yours truly,

iPartner India Team