West Bengal is the centre of human trafficking for domestic slavery in India today. With no law pertaining to placement agencies in West Bengal, children and women continue to fall prey to illegal recruitment agencies that entice them with false job offers and then trap them into domestic slavery.
Last year, the government of Chhattisgarh took an admirable step and adopted a law to regulate placement agencies. 1 In an executive order of the Department of Labor Delhi, placement agencies have been directed to register with the Labor Department. 2 But West Bengal, which tops the chart for trafficking, has no such law. If we come together, we can spur West Bengal to pass a similar law and make ending trafficking for domestic slavery an urgent priority.
Human trafficking remains a serious problem in West Bengal with statistics showing 3 the region accounting for 44% of all human trafficking cases recorded in India in 2016. The United Nations Office on Drug and Crime states that out of over 19,000 children and women who went missing from West Bengal in 2011, only 6000 have been traced.4
Anti-slavery organizations believe that many of them have been trafficked to cities as domestic workers, where they remain at the mercy of traffickers – abused and exploited.
By calling on the state government to take immediate action, together we can help protect children and women from the false allurements of traffickers.
Ask the Government of West Bengal to ensure that important steps are taken to combat human trafficking.
Notes:
- http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Human-trafficking-Chhattisgarh-first-state-to-implement-placement-agency-act/articleshow/39637562.cms ↩
- http://delhi.gov.in/wps/wcm/connect/b27010004598a150b320ff348f12a918/Order+1938+%2825-09-2014%29+.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&lmod=-1415800087&CACHEID=b27010004598a150b320ff348f12a918&lmod=-1415800087&CACHEID=b27010004598a150b320ff348f12a918 ↩
- https://www.freedomunited.org/news/raped-forced-marry-sold-brothel/ ↩
- http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Bengal-tops-UN-list-of-missing-kids-women/articleshow/21075876.cms ↩
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