Human trafficking has been a major issue in North East India for some years. In 2004, the most indepth report to date on trafficking in India described the ‘trafficking of women and children from the North-Eastern state of India’ as ‘a serious issue which has not drawn public attention’. A more localised study in Bihar state revealed that 204 children had been trafficked from 58 villages surveyed – some 3% of children in the area.

The situation does not appear to have improved as a newly published report, Missing Children in India (Bachpan Bachao Andolan), demonstrates. It showed that the North East has a considerably higher proportion of untraced missing children than elsewhere in India. Trafficking is thought to be behind these figures. Placement agencies appear to have targeted North East children for domestic servitude and bonded labour, and girls for the sex trade and bride trafficking. As a result, many of these children will not even have been reported as missing. Another recent study, 'Stolen Childhoods: A Study of Child Trafficking in the Kosi Region of Bihar', prepared by NGO Save the Children,showed that 639 out of 8,252 children surveyed in two districts (i.e. 7.7%) had been trafficked.

Now there are fears that the problem will increase. Such concerns are fuelled by a rise in migration from NE India to the mega-cities elsewhere in the country and by border crossing developments which give greater access to South East Asia.

Dramatic rise in migration

According to reports in various newspapers, migration from North East India has increased 12-fold over the last five years. Rising from 34,000 migrants in 2005 to 414,850 in 2010, if migration continues to grow at these rates it could soon reach a million a year.

Key factors in this rise in migration are education and jobs. A study by Delhi-based thinktankNorth East Support Centre and Helpline (NESCH) in March 2011 highlighted that the lack of higher education opportunities was driving young people to the mega-cities of India. Two thirds of migrants left the region for this reason. The same study revealed that only 5% of these students would return to NE India after their studies. Whatever the accuracy of these figures, it indicates a substantial problem.

The government decision to allow a significant number of large multi-brand and single-brand stores to open will attract even more people to leave NE India. An extra four to six million jobs mainly in the mega-cities will be created.

The lure of a better life and a good job results in many people leaving the north east. This almost inevitably leaves the region poorer and more marginalised. It also makes it far easier for traffickers to make false promises of a better life and a dream job to lure their victims into a life of slavery and exploitation. Dalits and Tribals, whose poverty is a consequence of their position outside the caste system and of the resulting discrimination, are particularly vulnerable to these false promises. Traffickers, sometimes in the guise of placement agencies, appear to be targeting North East children for trafficking into domestic servitude and bonded labour, while girls are increasingly victims of sex trafficking and bride trafficking.

Cross-border Trafficking

In addition to inter-state trafficking, concerns are growing that international human trafficking will have an increased impact on North East India. India’s Look East policy is opening the gateway to East and South East Asian countries. Linked both with this and with the Asian Highway project, a series of Integrated Check Posts will be built on India’s borders. Ten out of thirteen will affect the North East. Since truckers and public transport are the main way of transporting trafficking victims, it is feared that an increase in cross-border journeys will lead to an expansion of trafficking both in numbers and in the spread of destinations.

While the check posts will have many advantages – they will be custom-designed with dedicated lanes for each transport-type and adequate facilities for passengers and cargo – no announcement has been made regarding actions to limit human trafficking. Furthermore, building these substantial check posts will almost inevitably affect villages on the site, with fears that this will lead to displacement which in turn makes local people vulnerable to trafficking.

A special case

Dalit Freedom Network believes that the increase in migration - and the factors behind this - along with the growth of cross-border traffic, will increase the vulnerability of North East people, particularly Dalits and Tribals, to human trafficking and other forms of exploitation. The Indian government has made significant moves over the last year or so to address the issue of human trafficking. DFN urges the authorities and civil societies to ensure that the particular needs of NE India are given due attention to address the increased vulnerability of the people there.