Delay in Passing a Strong Anti-Trafficking Law is Putting Scores of Women at Risk

Posted by AsiaViews | Oct 16, 2017 | 0 |

The Hindustan Times

Oct 12, 2017

Human trafficking has is a huge problem, especially in the Northeast. This is not surprising since the region is politically unstable and poverty-stricken. Along with the State, various NGOs provide assistance and aid for trafficking victims, but corruption often limits their ability to make a large impact.

Last week, eight girls, three of them minors, were rescued from Manipur’s Churachandpur district in the nick of time by anti-trafficking officials. The traffickers had offered (one of the girls) a job in Singapore, which seemed to her as her best chance to escape poverty. The minor, however, had no idea that she would become a victim of an international trafficking racket and sent illegally to Myanmar, which borders Manipur, to be flown later to Singapore to work as domestic worker. India and Myanmar have a free-movement agreement, which allows people from either side residing within a 16-km radius of the international border to travel to the other side and stay for a maximum of 72 hours without visa or passports. Traffickers use this arrangement to make fake documents for the trafficked girls so that they are able to enter Myanmar through the Moreh-Tamu border for their onward journey to Yangon.

Sometime, victims are scarred and they are not able to receive the psychological help they need and are dragged back into trafficking.

To address the situation, India needs a strong anti-trafficking bill. The draft Trafficking of Persons (Prevention, Protection and Rehabilitation) Bill, 2016, has been criticized as it is “inadequate” and because it does little to alleviate ‘modern slavery’. “The bill in its current form will not achieve its objectives of preventing trafficking and providing protection and rehabilitation to trafficked victims,” wrote academic Prabha Kotiswaran recently. The sooner the Centre comes out with a well-thought-out law, the easier it will be for enforcement agencies to tackle the menace better.

It will also help if areas vulnerable to trafficking are marked, as this paper by Eli Kumari Das — Human trafficking in North Eastern region: A study with global perspectives, mentions. In addition, the paper adds, “government and NGOs and other social organizations should spread education in the remote areas particularly about these kinds of crimes because due to proper knowledge most of the uneducated even educated women and girl child become the easy prey of traffickers”.

Additionally, concerned authorities should take the missing persons report seriously and should take necessary action without fail. This may sound very doable but actually doesn’t happen in many cases.

(http://www.hindustantimes.com/editorials/delay-in-passing-a-strong-anti-trafficking-law-is-putting-scores-of-women-at-risk/story-5rFLc9QgEdTxhLMgR0MhxL.html)

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EXTRICATING NDONESIAN CHILDREN FROM ISIS INFLUENCE ABROAD

Indonesia urgently needs to revisit the possibility of repatriating the neediest of its young citizens stranded abroad, whose families had earlier joined ISIS. Most of these children are in camps in northern Syria but there are also small numbers in the Philippines, Afghanistan and Iraq. “Extricating Indonesian Children from ISIS Influence Abroad”, the latest report from the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) argues that the government could begin by bringing back small groups of unaccompanied children under ten years of age, who pose minimal security risk and are most vulnerable to deteriorating conditions in the camps.“The problem is that health and security conditions are worsening by the day in the Syrian camps, and the children are growing older,” says Dyah Kartika, IPAC analyst. “They need access to schools, a nurturing environment, and medical attention. If the government waits too long, the children will be further exposed to ISIS ideology.” The new report examines a 2019 list of Indonesians in camps and prisons run by the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The Indonesian government has been trying to verify their citizenship, but with pseudonyms, misspellings and bad transliterations, it is a daunting task. At the time the data was collected, between March and June 2019, there were 555 Indonesians in SDF camps and prisons, including 367 children. Among the children, approximately 277 were under the age of ten and 34 were unaccompanied. In June 2021, there are fewer than ten children who are both unaccompanied and under the age of ten that could be prioritized for return. Bringing back children of ISIS families is no easy task. The report analyses the main challenges faced by the Indonesian government. These include definitional issues, bureaucratic competition, the difficulty of verifying nationality, evaluating the toll of exposure to conflict, assessing security risk, and finding relatives or others willing to provide care once the children are returned. In addition, COVID has meant stringent restrictions on travel, placing further obstacles in the way of repatriation. There are several models for rehabilitation of children exposed to violent extremism in Indonesia that could be modified to accommodate the needs of children repatriated from abroad. The report examines these models and argues that the government does not need to have every detail of rehabilitation programs in place before it starts extricating children from ISIS influence. It can start by bringing back the most vulnerable children and then modify programs as needed.

“It’s important that the government see these children as victims” says Dyah. “They deserve a chance to be children again.”

Delay in Passing a Strong Anti-Trafficking Law is Putting Scores of Women at Risk