New Delhi, July 2: A non-government organisation has sounded a red alert over the spurt in human trafficking from the region. According to Shakti Vahini, the NGO, state governments in the region are yet to grasp the implications of the racket and yet to put the necessary preventive mechanism in place.
Its annual report, Trafficking in India Report 2004, classified all states (barring Arunachal Pradesh) in four categories in terms of the magnitude of trafficking, the existence of the legal and administrative frameworks and their implementation and the concern level for human, woman and child rights.
Sikkim and Meghalaya fare the best and are placed in Category I while Nagaland and Tripura have been put in Category IV. ?In our survey, we found that among the northeastern states, Nagaland and Tripura have the lowest awareness about these laws followed by Manipur,? said secretary Kamal Pandey.
In the intermediary classification, Mizoram is placed in the second category while Assam is in the third.
Instances of trafficking, however, are found to be highest in Assam and minor girls end up being sold in various parts of the country.
?The trafficking network in Assam has become well established over the years,? the report said. It added that currently ?women and girls from Assam are trafficked to the brothels of Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune, Siliguri, Calcutta, Chapra and several other red-light areas in Bihar and West Bengal?.
Rishi Kant, executive director of the NGO, said trafficking is also common in the other states of the region but not to the extent discernible in Assam.
Interestingly, the 93-page document pointed out that trafficking agents belonging to Assam have become so adept in dodging the law that they have begun dealing in girls from other states as well.
?There have been cases where girls from Jharkhand have been trafficked by persons belonging to Assam. In March 2004, a woman trafficker of Assam was arrested while trafficking six children, including three girls from Nepal,? the document said.
According to Shakti Vahini, the legal and constitutional framework to check the menace is already in place but they have not been effectively implemented. Poverty, ethnic conflict and the attraction towards a glamorous career in modelling are being identified as the main factors behind the rise in the immoral trade in the Northeast.
Human trafficking has been identified as the third largest source of profit in organised crime after gunrunning and drug smuggling.
Children, particularly girls, are at greater risk of being trafficked than adults.