The police department would work with NGOs for “zero human trafficking” in Tamil Nadu. Like drugs and arms trafficking, human trafficking is an organised crime, and is difficult to prevent unless public cooperate with enforcement agencies, said M. Ravi, Additional Director General of Police (ADGP).
Launching the Anti Human Trafficking Clubs (AHTC) on Friday, he said, as per the 2012 statistics, human trafficking cases were high in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. “But in reality, cases of human trafficking are very less in Tamil Nadu. It is important to prevent and achieve zero human trafficking in the State. We will work with respective NGOs for this,” he said.
Stating that the anti-human trafficking units were already in function in many districts of Tamil Nadu, Mr. Ravi said that 70% of the trafficked victims were sexually exploited, and 70% of the sufferer were women.
“Our aim is to prevent all forms of crimes against women and children,” the ADGP said.
Mr. Ravi also stressed on the need of proactive strategies by the enforcement agencies, and involvement of every organ of the government as the reasons for trafficking are poverty and social backwardness.
P.M. Nair, retired IPS officer and an expert in the subject said that every year, 1.17 lakh children went missing in India. Of them, 41,000 remained untraced, meaning that they were exploited. “If we start working together, all the missing children can be traced,” he told the student members of the AHTC.
Indian Community Welfare Organisation (ICWO), a NGO, plans to form 100 such AHTCs in colleges across the State in the coming six months. The clubs would work within and outside the campuses in creating awareness, rescue and re-integration of trafficking survivors in partnership with district NGOs.
Among others, A.J. Hariharan, founder secretary of ICWO, spoke.
