See something, say something: Call for renewed action against human trafficking made

"See something, say something" was the call for the day as students, diplomats, members of the civil society and police officials got together to mark the World Day against Trafficking in Persons 2019 here on Tuesday.

"Where human trafficking is concerned, the victims are usually the most vulnerable," said Anuradha Shankar, ADGP, Madhya Pradesh Police during an event orgsed by the British High Commission and an NGO named FXB India Suraksha at the Jawahar Bhawan.

While India is making efforts towards eradicating human trafficking, the Global Slavery Index stated that there were about eight million people living in modern slavery in India on any given day in 2016.

Speaking to on the efforts to sensitise the police towards victims of human trafficking, Shankar said, "This is a very recent development. The Supreme Court has given a directive to the police that every missing person is important and so once you get a missing report, you should register the crime. This might reflect in an increase in crime but it also puts a responsibility on the police to search for them."

"The police is getting lots of sensitivity training nowadays. It's new police now. Because it's not been in focus since the inception of the Indian police, therefore there's a lot of lack there but we are slowly catching up," she said.

The British High Commission in New Delhi's Head of Political and Bilateral Affairs, Richard Barlow, highlighted that efforts to ensure no risk of human trafficking within production lines of Marks & Spencers in India are being taken.

"Amongst others, the British High Commission in India is working with Marks & Spencers, which produces lots of its clothes in India. We work with M&S to train thousands of its workforce on these sorts of issues (human trafficking), to raise awareness and we're now working with them in Jharkhand to examine labour in their production chain and make sure that there's no risk of human trafficking," the diplomat told .

He also highlighted other projects which the High Commission has undertaken in India, including extending support to train thousands of police cadets in Madhya Pradesh with regard to human trafficking.

"Another project is a community project with the Bedia community in Madhya Pradesh to try and reduce their vulnerability to the sex industry. There's also a project with the police academy in Madhya Pradesh where we've supported work to train thousands of talented, new police cadets in MP to be aware of human trafficking and a victim-focused policing. So that when they come across these problems in real life, they put the victims first," he said.

Barlow said that realising Sustainable Development Goals, which include clause 8.7 on human trafficking, can happen through working together at the UN.

"Work together in the UN is really important as a group of nations. There's a lot of problems the world is facing, human trafficking is one of them, climate change is another one. There's a real momentum now across all of our societies that we've got to make a difference. A lot of this starts in the home, in the schools, in the communities -- what can we do to take care of people around us and the environment we live in? And as the distinct professor from the Rajeev Gandhi Foundation said -- See something, say something. That's a great starting point," he said.

( With inputs from ANI )