The State had prepared a draft bill on the ‘Criminalisation of end clients in human trafficking’ to address the cases of women and children trafficking at the core of the problem, said Women Development and Child Welfare (WD&CW) Department Special Commissioner H. Arun Kumar on Wednesday. Implementation of the Act would help the government bring down the trafficking cases, he said.
Mr. Arun Kumar launched a report on ‘Child Trafficking in AP and Telangana’ by NGO HELP at the State-level consultation meeting organised by the NGO, Terre des Hommes Netherland and WD&CW here .
He said the draft bill, which focused on criminalising the end clients or sex buyers who generate the demand in sex trafficking, was now open for feedback. He said the Kishori Balika scheme through which more than 40 lakh girl children in the State would be trained in self-defence and other activities from October would help girl children grow stronger.
Brutality common across world
Commenting on the modus operandi, British Deputy High Commissioner Andrew Fleming said though the trafficking market in different regions adopted different ways, the brutality faced by the victims was worse and common across the world.
He said trafficking was a seriously organised global crime and poverty had been one of the causes of it. “We need to adopt sophisticated methods to eradicate trafficking and ensure no one undergoes that pain any more.”
About the activities of the British embassy towards the fight against trafficking, Mr. Fleming said awareness programmes were held in the Old City of Hyderabad and Yadadri in Telangana. “We are planning to campaign in Araku valley next year,” he said.
Home Department Secretary A.R. Anuradha said many in the society did not know of such problems being faced by women and children.
“The adverse impact of movies has imbibed wrong values into an entire generation of children so much that it has become an irreversible problem to solve for all the stakeholders in the government and society,” she said.
Researcher Pravin P. Patkar, who produced the report on trafficking in the Telugu States, DCP (Crimes) B. Rajakumari, HELP secretary N. Rammohan Rao, officials from the police department, representatives of NGOs and others took part.
