KOLKATA, India UCAN) – A Jesuit center’s campaign against human trafficking in eastern India has been buoyed by its first success.
Father Probal Gomes says a 30-year-old woman has been rescued from a human traffickers’ racket in the region. But the woman “is still in shock and guilt, and it will take a few months for us to bring her back to her normal self.”
The Jesuit priest directs Udayani (awakening) Social Action Forum (USAF). It launched an anti-human trafficking and safe migration program in June in West Bengal state’s 24 Parganas (South) district after getting progressively more involved in the issue of trafficking in the region for three years.
The forum works with the Association for Bengal Collaborators for Development (ABCD), which coordinates Catholic diocesan social services in the state.
Father Gomes said Church NGOs do not take on the traffickers directly but work through women’s self-help groups, village youths and others.
“If we do not create awareness among the people of this district, many would be lost forever, not only to the sex trade but also through cheap labor rackets.”
ABCD director Father Ignatius Philo Sarto describes West Bengal as one of the most disaster-prone states in India. “Human trafficking has been one of the most common problems in the area for the past 20-30 years,” he said, adding that his association wants to tackle the problem with help from other Christian groups.
According to data from the National Crime Records Bureau, West Bengal accounted for 61 of the 149 cases of trafficking in women registered at the national level in 2005. But local media say the official data are only the tip of an iceberg.
Father Gomes said USAF plans a comprehensive survey to gauge the true scale of the problem in the district, but it “may take about six months before we get the results.”
Meanwhile, the Jesuit center has launched awareness campaigns in Christian schools on the issue of human trafficking.
“Even children in the 9-14 age group are fully aware of what is happening in their locality,” the priest said.
USAF field officer Sorodindu Biswas played a key role in the group’s first rescue. He said a police officer had offered the woman a check for 25,000 rupees (US$525) if she volunteered to work outside the state.
She was saved “in the nick of time” only because she had no bank account or means to cash the check, Biswas told UCA News. “That is how we came to know about the human trafficking racket,” in which a senior police official also was involved, he said.
After being rescued, the woman told USAF staff she has an 11-year-old son and was desperately looking for funds to pay back money her husband had borrowed to set up a snack shop in their village.
Biswas explained that gangs generally look for women in the 15-30 age group, especially those with family and financial problems, and send most of the women the lure away to Persian Gulf countries.
He added that the Jesuit center had sought the help of the local village body to save the woman. The incident has given USAF “some leverage to take up similar cases in future,” he said.
As a further measure to prevent trafficking, the Jesuit center has set up local “vigilance committees” in the four areas where it operates.
Each committee comprises self-help group leaders, youth club members, school headmasters and heads of local government bodies.
Father Sarto says they have also organized youths who watch for signs among peers that might indicate they are getting involved with or are vulnerable to traffickers. One behavior that Church NGOs have advised people to watch for is excessive time spent using mobile phones, which can mean someone is working for the racket.
“Our efforts are fruitful when we get support and help from political and police forces,” the priest said.