Human Trafficking
Safeguarding and protection is the right of every person and must be our collective responsibility.
ABOUT THE ISSUE
What makes children, adolescents and youth feel unsafe? It is the threat of violence and of abuse. From being stared at, touched, or teased to being sexually abused. The threat of forced marriage and abduction. The fear of being violated and exploited, both in the physical world and in the virtual online space. This fear is real in public as well as in the private lives of children, adolescents and youth. It can be seen tangibly around us in the experiences of children, adolescents and youth and in the crime-related data in our country.
There is an increase in the use of technology or the internet to facilitate the sexual abuse and exploitation of children, adolescents and youth, including the production and sharing of child sexual abuse material online. Due to lack of awareness on response mechanisms children, adolescents and youth are also often not able to seek or get help.
Children, adolescents and youth who experience abuse and violence in any form, go through significant psychological, emotional, and physical trauma that can impact their entire life. It also restricts mobility and freedom for them and hence increases dropout rates in schools or employability programmes.
The data we have is from those cases that are reported. We know that there are far more instances of abuse and violence of children, adolescents and youth that remain entangled in the culture of silence that either goes unnoticed or are not reported. Gender inequality also increases the sheer vulnerability of girls and women to gender-based violence. What all this leads to is a lack of collective acknowledgement and responsibility towards issues of abuse and violence.
As a result, the response to sexual abuse and exploitation against women and children in India remains fragmented and needs much more focused attention.
There is no easy or uni-dimensional solution to such abuse and exploitation since it is influenced by a complex set of factors, often working in combination with one another. While the Government through its laws, schemes, and programs is confronting the issue of safety, there is a need to build larger collective intent and responsibility. This can be done by developing community-based prevention and response mechanisms if we must achieve long-term and sustainable solutions.