Child Trafficking and Permanency Planning

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Child Trafficking and Permanency Planning

• Presentation by Bharti Ali
• HAQ Centre for Child Rights
• 208 Shahpurjat, New Delhi 110049
• Tel [phone]
• Telefax 91-11-26492551
• E-mail haqcrc_at_vsnl.net
• Website www.haqcrc.org

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Crimes Against Children India
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Kidnapping/Abduction of Children (below 18 years)
that qualify as Child Trafficking
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• Every year, on an average, 22,480 women and
  44,476 children are reported missing in India.
  Out of these, an average of 5,452 women and
  11,008 children remain untraced. The National
  Human Rights Commissions Action Research on
  Trafficking in Women and Children in India
  (2002-2003) indicates that many of the missing
  persons are not really missing but are instead
  trafficked.
• _________________________________________________
  Source http//www.indiatogether.org/2004/oct/hrt-
  traffic.htm A Report on Trafficking in Women and
  Children 2002-2003, Volume 1, Chapter 14 pp
  203-217. NHRC, UNIFEM and ISS Project and Malvika
  Kaul, Young flesh in the trade, October 2004, New
  Delhi (WFS)

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• Most victims of trafficking in human beings are
  children
• and young persons below the age of 18 years
• Both girls and boys are trafficked depending upon
  the
• purpose of trafficking
• It goes without saying that girls are more
  vulnerable than
• boys
• Often the purpose of trafficking also determines
  the age-
• specific demand for children

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• Often, the same child is prone to
• malnutrition and illness, deprived of early
• stimulation, is out of school and more likely to
  be abused and exploited

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• As a nation we love our children, yet
• children continue to suffer
• There are several efforts being made by
• governments and NGOs alike, yet children
• continue to suffer in fact the numbers
• only seem to be increasing!

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Why Are Children Trafficked?

• Globalisation and Liberalisation leading to
• Increased Poverty
• Greater Food Insecurity
• Disintegration of the rural communities
• Forced and Illegal Migration
• Consumerism
• Unchecked growth of tourism industry
• Unchecked growth in the information technology
  sector
• Displacement/forced evictions due to development
  initiatives
• Anti-people and anti-child policies
• Failure of traditional coping systems
• Lack of essential services and chronic imbalances
  in access to services and opportunities
• Rights abuses
• Natural Calamities, Ethnic and Communal Strife
  leading to
• Refugee Status or Statelesssness

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• Cultural norms, traditions, beliefs and attitudes
  leading to
• Gender bias
• Illiteracy and ignorance
• Obscure beliefs like sex with virgin will cure
  STDs and sexual
• dysfunctions etc.
• Children are not seen as individuals with rights.
  As a result
• Childrens basic rights are abused and neglected
• Children are the easiest targets for trafficking
• Children are not involved in decisions affecting
  their life
• They are treated as extensions of parents
• Child Trafficking is a lucrative trade
• Lack of comprehensive legal framework and weak
  law enforcement
• Lack of political will

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Addressing the problem

• What are we really concerned about?
• Is it how to stop child trafficking or how to
  guarantee
• children their right to protection?
• Can we address child trafficking without
  addressing the
• larger question of child protection?
• Is it the symptoms that bother us or are we also
  concerned
• about what leads to the problem the root
  cause(s)?
• These are some questions we must ask!

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• State Civil Society
  Groups
• Globalisation Unfair
  Policies
• Migration Displacement
• Unemployment Illiteracy
• Patriarchy Gender Bias
• Conflict Violence
• Any Initiative

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• Initiatives must be directed at
• BUILDING A PROTECTIVE
• ENVIRONMENT FOR
• CHILDREN
• This calls for
• Permanency Planning

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WHAT IS PERMANENCY PLANNNING?

• It is a rights-based approach to the fight
  against child trafficking.
• It is about initiatives that aim at a sustainable
  impact on children and
• their communities.
• It is about measuring the child impact of all
  policy and programming
• for political, economic, social and cultural
  development.
• It is about adopting strategies that link up and
  address the root
• causes.
• It implies successful integration of survival,
  development, protection
• and participation actions.

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• Permanency Planning should not be a post-harm
  strategy. It has to deal with children who have
  been harmed as well as those who may not have
  suffered violence, separation from family, abuse
  and/or exploitation, but need to be protected in
  order to ensure that they remain within the
  social security and protective net.
• It is therefore about preventing harm and
  separation of children from their
  family/community
• about protecting children and maintaining the
  continuum of care in all situations

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• Increasing economic opportunity and removing
  barriers
• to economic success, along with counseling,
  medical and
• nutritional assistance, parenting training,
  income
• generation and other supports for maintaining
  stable
• families and a healthy community, play an
  important role
• in permanency planning.
• And so does linking with movements and campaigns
• against globalisation, unfair trade policies,
  agricultural
• policies that are anti small and marginal
  farmers, labour
• laws and policies that are anti unorganised
  sector
• workers, privatisation of basic services such as
  health,
• etc.

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• Unfortunately, most measures supported so far in
  India to address
• trafficking through permanency planning are
  limited to care and
• protection of children post-harm and at best
  adopt awareness
• generation as a preventive action.
• Moreover, in adopting such measures, the
  life-cycle approach is
• missing. While all children have equal rights,
  their situations are not
• uniform. At the same time, childhood and the
  range of childrens
• needs and rights are one whole, and must be
  addressed holistically.
• Integration issues arise during consideration of
  almost every issue
• facing children today. In education, sexual abuse
  and violence in
• schools can be a hidden factor behind low
  retention rates. In health,
• violence can be behind many of the unexplained
  injuries that are
• dealt with by health services, or even the cause
  of longer-term
• disability. These links have to be recognized to
  ensure a holistic
• approach to child rights, particularly childrens
  right to protection.
• It should not be Permanency Planning for a
  child rather, what is

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• SAARC CONVENTION ON PREVENTING
• AND COMBATING TRAFFICKING IN
• WOMEN AND CHILDREN FOR
• PROSTITUTION
• Article 7
• The State Parties to the
• Convention shall endeavour to focus
• preventive and development efforts in
• areas which are known to be source areas
• for trafficking

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• In South Eastern Europe, the Stability Pact Task
  Force (SPTF)
• on Trafficking in Human Beings, launched in
  September 2000,
• provided the Regional framework to prevent
  trafficking in its
• National Programmes to Combat Trafficking in
  Human Beings
• (National Plans of Action) Background Paper .
• According to this paper, the broad area of
  prevention includes
• both prevention and awareness raising both of
  which should
• be understood primarily as addressing the root
  causes of
• trafficking
• SPTF pointed out that it was never able to engage
  in the
• development or implementation of prevention
  programmes.
• The main reason for this was the lack of donor
  interest in
• financing the prevention programmes proposed by
  the
• international organisations co-operating with the
  SPTF (e.g.
• UNOHCHR, UNICEF, IOM).

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• The Recommended Principles and Guidelines on
  Human Rights and Human
• Trafficking developed by UNOHCHR in 2002 proposed
  a broader
• understanding of prevention and awareness raising
  than the SPTF
• Guidelines
• The OHCHR Guidelines include not only
  interventions addressing the
• factors that increase vulnerability to
  trafficking, such as inequality, poverty
• and all forms of discrimination, but also
  advocate for the adoption of
• activities that address demand as a root cause of
  trafficking and public-sector
• involvement or complicity in trafficking
• The UNODC goes a step further in its Protocol on
  Trafficking in Persons
• Amongst other things, Article 9 of the Protocol
  calls for measures to protect
• victims from being trafficked again and other
  forms of revictimization
• The Protocol also seeks to prevent trafficking by
  requiring measures
• intended to make it more difficult for
  traffickers to use conventional means
• of transport and entry into States by requiring
  States parties to ensure that

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in India, EFFORTS AT Permanency Planning for
Children haVE failed

• This is because
• Prevention has received very little attention.
  Linking up with
• livelihood issues of the vulnerable communities
  as a strategy
• to deal with child trafficking is far from
  reality.
• Although globalisation and liberalisation seem
  inevitable,
• demand for policies and action that is pro-poor,
  initiating
• campaigns and linking up with movements that
  attack
• governments anti-people policies has not formed
  part of the
• rights based approach of permanency planning.
• The demand side is seldom addressed.
• Corruption in the border police and immigration
  department
• is a greater threat.

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• Other problems include -
• There is no uniform definition of the child.
  This not only affects planning and programming
  for children but also leaves many of their
  problems unaddressed and leads to or perpetuates
  discrimination between children. India has
  failed to ensure for children even the basic
  civil rights and freedoms that citizens of a
  democratic country are entitled to enjoy.In the
  face of inadequate registration of births and
  without proper enumeration of children, the cycle
  of denial of rights of children who figure no
  where is inevitable. Poor implementation of the
  existing laws only worsens the situation.

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• Rehabilitation Reintegration remains a
• Challenge All existing schemes for
  rehabilitation of trafficked victims are about
  women and girls trafficked for prostitutionRe-tr
  afficking as an issue has not been addressed by
  any of the existing rehabilitation
  programmesCommunity rehabilitation is yet to be
  understood and applied properlyInstitutional
  mechanisms are inadequate

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• Prosecution Of Offenders is Poor
• The absence of a legal definition of human
  trafficking and a law to deal with all forms of
  trafficking continues to affect prosecution of
  traffickersAnother critical reason for poor
  rate of prosecution of offenders is lack of
  victim protection and witness assistanceBesides,
  unfriendly court procedures and delay in trials
  add to the problem

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• Government of India Admits
• There is Lack of qualitative and quantitative
  data on
• Children in need of care protection
• Children in conflict with law
• Institutional and Non-Institutional Care system
• Standards of care are not established and
  implemented
• Infrastructure and Services are Inadequate
• There is lack of non-institutional and family
  based care system for children

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• Utilization of resources is skewed in terms of
  geographical spread
• There is lack of coordination and convergence of
  programmes/services
• There is inadequate emphasis for reintegration
  and restoration to families for rehabilitation
• Budgetary allocation for child protection is
  inadequate
• Training and capacity building of functionaries
  responsible for child protection is inadequate.

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• CHILD ISSUES FAIL TO BECOME A PRIORITY
• In the year 2005 only 2.45 percent of the total
  questions
• raised in the Parliament were related to children
  
• (802/32,720)
• Only 9 questions (0.03 percent) were on child
  trafficking
• Of every 100 Rupees budgeted in the 2006-07 Union
  
• Budget, only Four Rupees and Ninety-one Paise was
  for
• the over 440 million children of the country
• The share of child protection was the least -
  only Three
• Paise