"Assam girls still trafficked with promise of easy money"

Young girls from Assam are still falling prey to the lure of easy and quick money offered by human traffickers even as investigation and trial of those cases continue to be poor, Assam police and the US Consulate officials said here on Friday.

"Many young girls are taken out with the lure of easy money and they are falling prey to traffickers. Recently, we rescued 20 girls in Bihar, who were taken out from Assam with the promise of lots of money for dancing. The girls are getting bolder and are often targeted by anti-social elements," Assam director general of police, Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta said here at a workshop to prevent human trafficking.

The US Consulate Kolkata and Shakti Vahini, an NGO organised the workshop titled From One to Many: Ignite the Force with a purpose to educate and empower adolescent youth to prevent human trafficking.

"The National Crime Records Bureau data showing the increasing number of crime against women and children in Assam indicates that we have a herculean task at hand. Trafficking is an assault on human dignity and we need to move on a mission mode now. There could be various reasons and we need to address those. Apart from preventive steps and police action, there should be a proper rehabilitation initiative for the rescued victims," Mahanta said.

The US Consulate Kolkata organised the workshop as part of the US government's declaration of 2020 as the year of "Freedom First," recognising that human dignity, autonomy and freedom are essential to the exercise of rights and liberties.

Monica Shie, director of American Centre, Kolkata said, "The US Consulate Kolkata is committed to intensifying our efforts to end human trafficking through a year-round, multi-lateral approach that supports the coordination of anti-trafficking efforts through engagement with local governments, law enforcement agencies, judiciary, civil society, private sector and the trafficking survivors."

Founder of Shakti Vahini, Ravi Kant said human trafficking was an organised crime and it had grown in dimension over the years. "Assam is a major source area and it is important to make our youths aware of the designs of the traffickers and the support mechanism present."

They will organise similar workshops in Ranchi and Patna soon.