Child Trafficking & Child Abuse In India Must be Addressed

Around the world, child trafficking is still practised, a terrible reality that is only getting worse in India. According to NCRB 2018, 51% of all trafficking victims were children, and more than 80% of them were girls. This number is a wake-up call regarding India's growing child trafficking crisis that needs to be recognised and resolved at the earliest.

Disadvantaged communities - Dalits, tribals, and religious minorities - are most vulnerable to trafficking. Children from underserved families are subjected to trafficking in the form of forced child labour and/or sex trafficking. Several children are illegally employed in brick kilns, construction sites and agricultural fields. Child trafficking also takes form when children are forcefully engaged in begging rackets and other such activities. Many children are sold by their parents to work in factories and other industries that are highly dangerous with toxic environments.

Apart from this, horrific stories emerge daily of young girls being forced into the sex trade. Parents of these children are either betrayed or lured due to the poor socio-economic conditions that eventually compel them to make their children work at a tender age. When it comes to the uneducated and poor living in the slums and other backward regions in the country, most traffickers exploit their lack of awareness. Traffickers promise daily wages to parents of young children and transport them to big cities where they are often treated as commodities. Families in dire financial conditions are often approached by traffickers with an offer to buy their children and with no other escape from their pitiful conditions, parents comply.

We, at CRY, work passionately towards a solution-oriented approach to this deep-rooted problem of child abuse in India. CRY works with project partners at the grassroots level to help facilitate the rescue, restoration, and rehabilitation of trafficked victims.

The basic rights of children include adequate health, nutrition, education, and protection from abuse and exploitation. Regardless of their social or economic circumstances, all children have a right to care and protection as well as the opportunity to grow and develop to their full potential. Support CRY in safeguarding India's underprivileged children as they must be protected from child trafficking. Donate to NGO CRY and help make a difference!