''Children are easier to smuggle through borders, cheaper and easier to control, which makes them more vulnerable. Further, the unmanned borders along the Northeast region make it even easier for the traffickers,'' Hasina Kharbhih, team leader of an NGO Impulse, said, delivering a lecture on Human Trafficking for child labor prostitution here today.
The coal mines of Jaintia Hills in Meghalaya alone have engaged an estimated 70,000 child laborers, of which many are trafficked from neighboring countries like Bangladesh and Nepal, she added, quoting a study done by her NGO, which works primarily in the field of human trafficking. ''The Northeast is a source, destination and transit region for human trafficking.
The highway networks in the region connect many national and international destinations. The destinations are usually New Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Goa and Kolkata and extend as far as Thailand, Singapore and Thailand,'' Kharbhih added. ''Child trafficking, be it for forced labor or prostitution, is very much rampant in Northeast along with the rest of the country.
Within India, there are an estimated 2.3 million women in prostitution, of which nearly six lakh are children,'' she claimed.
She informed that the Northeast states were at high risk of trafficking due to displacement from armed conflicts, quoting a report of the International Displacement Monitoring Centre.
The report states that over 20,000 people are displaced in Assam, 70,000 in Manipur, 60,000 in Tripura and 3,000 in Arunachal Pradesh. The criminal business of human trafficking generates over 10 billion US dollar a year, making it the third largest ''activity'' after drugs and armament.
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