GUWAHATI, March 5 � With growing concerns over trafficking of women and children in the State, a comparative analysis of secondary data brought out by UNICEF, in association with the State government, has once again highlighted the gravity of the issue in the State.
The time bound study covering the period of January 2011 to July 2013 (31 months) has brought together the data related to trafficking, scattered among the agencies like Department of Labour and Employment, Crime Investigation Department (CID), Child Welfare Committee (CWC) and civil society organisations.
While analysing the data available with different agencies, the study has substantiated that there is trafficking in and from Assam, and that gender bias influence such trafficking.
The study was released on Tuesday on the occasion of the first Child Protection Day in the State, which was observed that day.
A CID data of missing people within the period of 31 months shows that of the 2,425 missing cases reported in State, 369 were boys, 868 are girls and 1,188 women.
Again an year wise variation in the bulk of missing person in Kamrup Metro district shows that whereas 201 women, 192 girls and 102 boys were missing in the year 2011, the number came down dramatically to only one girl missing in 2012 and another girl missing in the study period of 2013. The study has also suggested an in-depth investigation in this sudden decline in the number of missing persons in Kamrup Metro in the past two years.
A data of children handled by the CWCs in different district also suggests that Kamrup Metro is the single most important destination of trafficked children with nearly 160 children being trafficked there within the time frame of the study and most of them are concentrated in Guwahati as child labour.
A comparative analysis of Kamrup Metro and all other districts as per the data of the Department of Labour and Employment says that whereas 14 girls were found to be engaged as child labour in Kamrup Metro alone, similar number of girls were rescued from all other districts. On the other hand, 155 boys were rescued from all other districts and 83 boys engaged in child labour were rescued from Kamrup Metro district.
The study has also suggested establishing a strong network of organisations working in the major source district and organisations working in Kamrup Metro, especially in Guwahati, as the single most important destination point for child labour to facilitate faster rescue and more efficient restoration.
