Awareness as tool: Tackling child trafficking ‘at source’

Every day, Kumar goes to schools in three districts of Bihar identified as ‘sending districts’ — from where maximum numbers of children are sent as child labourers to big cities. He begins with showing schoolchildren a short film of over four minutes. The film begins with visuals of Mumbai, its sky-scrapers, sites such as CST, Bandra-Worli sea link, crowded streets, well-lit buildings. The mood then becomes grim with young boys narrating on camera how they were brought to the city. “Mujhe kahaa tha karigar ban jayega (I was told I would become an artisan),” one says. The boys then speak of the ordeal they went through at their workplaces. One says he was beaten up with a belt for not working properly, another that he got barely a few hours of sleep after working through the day. One says every time he would complain that he was unwell, his ‘seth’ would accuse him of lying to escape work. The children in the film also speak of receiving no money for their work.

Kishore Bhamre, programme coordinator at PCVC, says the children featured in the film were rescued over the years from zari workshops, hotels and other establishments in Mumbai.

“Many of these minors come from financially poor homes. For their parents, the promise that the children will learn a skill, or will get food to eat and a place to live, is enough to consider the option of sending them for work, as it means one person less to feed,” says Bhamre.

The group realised the need to prevent trafficking “at the source” while working at railway stations in Mumbai to trace children brought in as labourers. Two years ago, they began the film screenings followed by a discussion on what working in Mumbai could be like for a child.

“We approach school students from Class IV to Class X through district authorities or the education departments. We show them the movie and provide information about child labour to counter what the traffickers tell them,” Kumar says. Over the past one year, he and other campaign members have worked in over 400 schools in Motihari, Sitamarhi and Gaya districts of Bihar. Three other districts of Uttar Pradesh are also similarly targeted to reach over one lakh students in total.

Kumar says that after the film is screened, there is a general sense of awareness about the kind of work children are likely to be employed in. “The children tell us that they want to continue studying and not go to work. It resonates with them, as some speak of their friends who had gone to work and have returned with skin diseases due to lack of exposure to the sun or other ailments,” he says. The film is also shown to parents and guardians to ensure they know the conditions of work before deciding to send their children.

Bhamre says that in Bihar, the Integrated Child Protection Scheme and welfare schemes for children contribute towards ensuring they do not drop out of school or end up being trafficked. As incentive, a stipend is given for children to attend school. In some cases, sponsorship is provided for the child’s needs to complete his education.
Despite this, many continue to be pushed into child labour. Increased patrolling at railway stations by the police as well as NGOs has reduced the number of children brought in hordes for work, but challenges remain. “To evade authorities, traffickers tutor children to say that they are their family members,” says Navnath Kamble, rescue programme head, Pratham, in Mumbai. Some traffickers ensure that women are part of the group to give the appearance of a family. Others get down at smaller stations to avoid patrolling.

“Much of this is therefore attempted to be prevented at the district-level through schools, teachers and guardians. We tell the students they should first finish their education and then decide if they want to go to Mumbai,” Kumar says.

sadaf.modak@expressindia.com