Labour Commissioner, Nagaland, Er. L Nunshiyanger Aier, on Thursday admitted that to date, Nagaland did not have a proper documentation on the magnitude of child labour owing to lack of comprehensive survey due to financial constraint and also compounded by lack of proper research methodology .
Aier was speaking on “Situation of Child Labour in the State and the Mechanisms to Curb it” at the two-day “State Level Workshop and Consultation on Human Trafficking: With Special Emphasis on Commercial Sexual Exploitation and Child Labour” held in the Conference Hall, Police Headquarters here.
The event is being organised by Anyay Rahit Zindagi (ARZ) and state resource centre for women in collaboration with Nagaland police and supported by Terres Des Hommes Netherlands. Nunshiyanger said the department of labour has made several attempts to conduct survey in these sectors but could not achieve a remarkable conclusion owing to the difficult and complex nature of the task.
The labour commissioner, however, said that in the recent past, a general research was conducted in Kohima, Dimapur and Mokokchung, where there were sizeable numbers of children employed in these sectors.
Nunshiyanger pointed out that poor families view employment of their children especially in the domestic and hospitality service, not only as a viable option but more importantly as a means of survival.
He said that on the demand side of the equation, the increase in demand for child workers correlated with the increase in economic success within the urban population of the state with more middle class families emerging. The commissioner opined that many individuals/families considered hiring of child worker as an ‘act of charity’ as children were provided with basic needs that poverty denied them.
He said though some child workers were in favourable conditions, yet such an approach supported the perpetuation of unregulated conditions that exposed many other children to homes with exploitative and oppressive practices.
The commissioner said that the mechanism to curb child labour in Nagaland would be to develop a comprehensive mechanism involving all stakeholders and tackle the issue in a mission mode.
Pointing out that India was home to the highest number of child labour, consultant Terres Des Hommes Germany, CJ George, said that effective implementation of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, could curb child labour issue.
Speaking on the topic “Child Labour: Laws and Impact on Children”, he said the country has all the resources to do away with child labour.
Chief patron, DGP Nagaland LL Doungel IPS said tackling human trafficking was not charter of duties that entailed participation, but a human problem that called for participation of public and NGOs in tandem with police.
Speaking on the topic “AHTU- Action taken and challenges faced in combating human trafficking”, DIG HR & SJ, W Krome lamented that human trafficking would continue to be a problem if such cases were not reported to the police. Delivering key note address, mission director SRCW, Daisy Mezhur said there were unofficial reports of women being commercially sexually exploited in the Nagaland-Assam border.
She also pointed out that parents from backward districts of Nagaland and rural areas send their children to the urban area mainly Dimapur, Kohima and Mokokchung, lured with scope for better education and employment, but were often exploited by the employer.
Mezhur said that as per a research conducted by an NGO called Prodigal’s Home, in Nagaland, one person goes missing every 3 ½ days out of which 68% of them were children and 35% of those victims of trafficking were never found again.
Speaking on “concept clarity about human trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation”, director ARZ and members standing committee on anti human trafficking on MWCD, Arun Pandey said that the most vulnerable group for human trafficking were young adolescent school going girls. He said modus operandi of trafficking was through use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) such as social media and mobile.
Others who spoke included OSD WCD Maharashtra, Jayanta Paunikar on “Laws Relating to Human Trafficking for Commercial Sexual Exploitation”, Society Director State Child Protection Society on “Situation of Human Trafficking and the Challenges Faced in Rehabilitation Process in Nagaland” and consultant LFA, Dr. Vinito Chishi on “Experience of Working with Commercial Sex Workers from Health Perspective”.
The participants from various NGOs held deliberation under the topic. The moderator for the workshop was state coordinator, Gracy Ayee.
Capacity building for police personnel would be held on the second day of the workshop.
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