A US human trafficking report suggested that Nepal women and girls are increasingly subjected to sex trafficking in Assam.
The US state department’s annual congressional-mandated report on human trafficking, which was released on Tuesday, said that many women and girls—predominately from Nepal and Bangladesh, and from Europe, central Asia, and Asia, including minority populations from Burma—are subjected to sex trafficking in India.
“Prime destinations for both Indian and foreign female trafficking victims include Kolkata, Mumbai, Delhi, Gujarat, Hyderabad, and along the India-Nepal border. Nepali women and girls are increasingly subjected to sex trafficking in Assam, and other cities such as Nagpur and Pune,” said the report.
The report also mentioned that some corrupt law enforcement officers protect suspected traffickers and brothel owners from law enforcement efforts, take bribes from sex trafficking establishments and sexual services from victims, and tip off sex and labor traffickers to impede rescue efforts.
Rishi Kant of NGO Shakti Vahini on Friday during a media workshop said that the report exposes a deadly scene of trafficking in the region. Kant also advocated for a private employment agency and domestic employee act to curb illegal activities run in the name of these agencies in Assam.
“The women and girls from the region are continued to be trafficked by a section of placement agencies in the name of providing them work. There is one Munna Chowdhury against whom there are several cases. But he is yet to be nabbed. There should be an act in Assam like states of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand,” said Kant.
He, however, rued at the poor facilities provided to the police personnel who are in operations in such cases. “Police very often need to travel to different states to trace the cases but if they are not adequately equipped, how will they work? This is a serious finding which needed to address soon,” added Kant.
Besides, some boys from Bihar are subjected to forced labour in embroidery factories in Nepal, while some boys from Nepal and Bangladesh are subjected to forced labor in coal mines in the state of Meghalaya, although reportedly on a smaller scale than in previous years, according to the report.
