Support is growing between the countries to stop human trafficking across the borders. The incidences of Human Trafficking in Nepal have increased after the Covid-19 pandemic, the impact can be seen regularly at the borders between India and Nepal.

A cross border interaction was called to learn and share the cross-border Human Trafficking experience with the duty bearers between Nepal and India. The objective of the meeting was to strengthen the cross-border network to combat Human Trafficking through collaborative efforts and establishing better coordination between stakeholders of both countries. Besides this, the discussion focused on to create a strong mechanism for action and to create a better understanding reduce the communication gap.

Plan International with its partner UNESCO Club, an NGO actively working against Human Trafficking in Nepalgunj District adjacent to Rupaidiha in Uttar Pradesh invited Caritas India and its Partner DEHAT with other national and international NGOs and Govt. agencies.

Nepal is the source country for Human Trafficking and there are several reasons and magnitudes which open when an attempt is made to discover the root causes of human trafficking. There are major three main factors such as a family’s financial status, the political context of the geographical area and the social mindset of the people in the area, that play a crucial role in aggravation or suppression of the scenario of trafficking. It is strongly evident in the seven border districts of the Indo-Nepal region that the migration of working men from the villages to big metro cities resulting in the creation of eminent demand for commercial sex. To fulfil this demand, practices like trafficking come into existence for purposes like prostitution.

Bashanta Kumar from UNESCO Club shared how his organization is following the 3Ps to address cross border Human Trafficking and he requested support from all agencies to address the issue.

Superintendent of police Nepalgunj, OM Bahadur Rana, the chief guest for the program acknowledged the good coordination between NGOs and Govt. of both the countries which have helped in achieving good results. He also appreciated Caritas India’s efforts to combat Cross-border Human Trafficking through their Partners which can be seen in the form of several rescue operations at the border Transition Points at interception booths.

Dr.  Jitendra Chaturvedi from DEHAT, a Caritas Partner Organization shared his experience from the last three-year Swaraksha Anti-Human Trafficking Program which led to major Interception and rescue operations through which several Nepali young girls were saved. He urged the Nepal Organization: “the need is to get deeply involved in the enquiry so that the victims can be identified in Nepal itself.” He requested the law enforcement agencies to register the cases against the perpetrator who are intercepted with the victims at the booth in India so a certain legal action can be taken.

From Plan International, Anis Shrestha shared about creating a Facebook page with a video of a fictitious character Maya who saved herself from traffickers because of her awareness. He informed that this video in the Nepali language will help in creating mass awareness and sensitizing young girls who are at high risk of being trafficked in Nepal.

Caritas India representative suggested strong coordination between both the countries with all NGOs and Govt. agencies to see the better result against Human trafficking. He also suggested Nepal NGOs and other agencies focus more on Prevention part so that vulnerable and targeted people can be aware and sensitized and they can be stopped from being trafficked. Under Swaraksha AHT Program he assured that Caritas India and Its partners will always lead for the state and national level Dialogues at the Policy level for the change.

An action plan was prepared to build strong collaboration and a good communication network so that each and every information can be shared with each other. It was suggested to conduct regular meetings to monitor the scale and magnitude of the Human Trafficking cases at the Indo-Nepal border. Policy level talks should be initiated for Policy Review in Nepal.  Necessary gaps and challenges need to be listed while handling the cases at the border and Joint  SOP should be worked out for Cross border Human Trafficking.

The meeting was participated by representatives from Nepal  Tiny hand, Maiti Nepal, Shakti Samuh Nepal, Saathi Sanstha along with Caritas India, DEHAT, DSWS and Sanlaap Kolkata.