Law to protect child domestic labourers in Assam

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: Child and human trafficking cases in Assam have become a cause of concern. To deal with this, the Assam Government has formed anti-human trafficking units in every district of the State. It has also joined hands with the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS).

During Question Hour today, BJP MLA Diganta Kalita expressed concern over the increasing incidents of child and human trafficking in the State and said that the government must take steps to deal with the menace of trafficking.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma assured the MLA that the State Government had already taken measures to curb child and human trafficking and as a result of these measures, there has been a slight drop in such incidents. He said, "In the past one year, 174 cases of child and human trafficking have been registered across Assam. A total of 318 victims have been successfully rescued and 139 people have been arrested.

"It has been observed that child trafficking cases are related to the economic condition of the victims. Children of economic backward areas like the tea garden areas and border areas are more vulnerable to trafficking. Trafficking does not just mean taking the children to other states to work as forced labour. Children from places like Tinsukia may be taken to Guwahati to work. This is also trafficking. It is a crime to engage children below 14 years of age for any kind of work, to deprive them of their educational rights and to torture them. So the government will soon bring in a law which will make it mandatory for people who engage child domestic labourers to register their names in the police station and to ensure that the children are provided educational facilities."

The Chief Minister further said that economically poor parents often send away their children with traffickers who lure them with the promise of lucrative jobs. Hence, it was necessary to not just rehabilitate the trafficked children but also their families by bringing such vulnerable families under some government schemes. He said that the government had collaborated with UNICEF and launched the Shishu Mitra programme to look into these aspects.

Sarma also cited the recent incident where 44 children were rescued from Sikkim. "Although the children had been engaged as labour, they were well looked after and provided education also. But this does not undermine the fact that they were taken away from their families. However, it is seen that when children, especially from tea garden areas, are brought to work in households in Guwahati, they are often physically tortured and deprived of education. This is a crime and it must stop," he said.

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