IMPHAL, July 2:
Of the total 179 girl victims rescued by Goa police in the last three years, Manipur records the second highest number of victims after Mumbai, while the Manipur figure is the highest among the north east states.
This was revealed in a two day consultation organised by Arz, ,a nodal NGO for Anti Human Trafficking Unit, of Goa police in collaboration with the Department of Women and Child Development, Goa for the service providers working towards combating human trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation from Goa and source states.
The consultation was held at the Goa Secretariat on the 26th and 27th June and was inaugurated by Keshab Chandra IAS, Secretary, Women and Child Development, Goa.
The consultation was attended by the police officers, representatives from Social Welfare Department and Ngo’s from Goa, Nagaland, Mizoram, Manipur, Assam, West Bengal, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra also participated in the consultation.
From Manipur, two NGOs New Life and Fxb Suraksha participated in the consultation.
During the consultation Arun Pandey, Director of Arz shared that Goa is mainly a destination state, where girls and women from different parts of India are trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation. The states from where the victims are trafficked to Goa include Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Assam, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram.
He further shared that, in Goa the government and the non government organizations have taken various steps towards the rescue of traffic victims, rehabilitation of the victims and the repatriation and reintegration of victims of trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation.
According, to the data presented a total of 179 victims were rescued by Goa police in the last three years. Among the rescued girls Manipur is the second largest with 31 and Mumbai with 39.
During the consultation it was shared that, a large number of victims from Manipur get re-trafficked due to lack of rehabilitation services back home or pressure of traffickers who operate in Manipur.
It was strongly felt that there was a need for active participation from the social welfare department and police from Manipur in combating human trafficking. Unfortunately, there was no participation from the Directorate of Social Welfare Department, Manipur even though invitation for the consultation was sent to the Director.
