A NEW appeal is highlighting the plight of thousands of children in India who’ve been trafficked for cheap labour, forced marriage, the sex trade and organ harvesting.
The Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund (SCIAF) is working with Caritas India to raise awareness of human trafficking and how families in poor communities can avoid falling prey to it. The project will also help poor families to earn an income so they’re less vulnerable, as well as working with border guards to set up interception points on the border with Nepal and work with police and others to rescue children when possible.
Trafficking is one of the fastest growing illegal trades. In India alone, around 20,000 people were trafficked last year, including 10,000 children, but their loved ones are often unaware they have been sold.
SCIAF’s Communications Manager Val Morgan, who travelled to India recently to see the project.
He said: “Child trafficking is destroying lives. Right now in India, thousands of children are being bought and sold – forced to work long hours in dangerous conditions with little or no pay, no rights and often violently beaten and sexually abused.
“Every child has the right to love, safety, an education and a future of hope. We can all do something to help these vulnerable children."
Rama Thapa, a case worker in India for Childline, which is working closely with Caritas India to combat child trafficking, told how they rescued one 14-year-old girl who had been sold to a paedophile for the equivalent of £415.
She said: “They were then married, but it wasn’t a proper marriage. Monica was the third girl to be married to this man. The two previous girls had been sold on to other men for sex.
“The man was around 25-years-old and sexually abused her.
“The man has not been prosecuted. We are getting so many cases but we aren’t able to deal with them all. If we get support from you our team will get stronger and we will be able to protect more children.”
SCIAF’s head of fundraising, Charlotte Hull, added: “SCIAF is working with Caritas India to prevent trafficking and protect children by raising awareness of how trafficking works so the dangers can be avoided, and helping poor families to earn an income so they’re less vulnerable to traffickers."
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