Combating Child Trafficking

Trafficking in women and children is multi-billion dollar trade. It is indeed the poor and the marginalised that become easy preys. As an organised crime, elements of demand and supply, especially in the case of children are strong and need to be combated through multi-pronged interventions. Even though there are several organizations working against commercial sexual exploitation of women and children, the focus by far has been women, as children are seldom a priority.

The Campaign against Child Trafficking (CACT) was formally launched on 12 December 2001 in Delhi and has chapters in 13 states across the country. HAQ: Centre for Child Rights is the National Coordination Office for the Campaign.

CACT believes that trafficking of children is one of the gravest violations of human rights of children and hence it has been the first ever campaign in the country to draw specific attention to child trafficking. The members of the campaign work in source as well as destination areas to create awareness and undertake rescue and rehabilitation of trafficked children. The campaign’s advocacy initiatives brought some significant changes in the government’s policies. Notable amongst these are inclusion of all forms of child trafficking in the National Plan of Action for Children, 2005 and India’s ratification of the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, also known as the Palermo Protocol on Human Trafficking.