This Chennai NGO rescues and rehabilitates trafficked children, giving them a life of choice

For D Mercy, every case of child trafficking comes with an unexpected lesson. The child counsellor, associated with Indian Community Welfare Organisation’s (ICWO) Anti Human Trafficking Club (AHTC), has seen young minds respond to abject poverty and desperation in the most unique and astounding ways. 

“Last year, I met a 13-year-old boy who had just been rescued from a bag factory in Chennai. He was working 10-15 hours a day for Rs 3,000 a month. But the only thing he worried about was how his grandmother and younger brother back home would eat now that he was out of work,” Mercy tells SocialStory.

Since its launch in January 2020 in Chennai, ICWO’s Anti Human Trafficking Club, along with the Tamil Nadu Child Labour Task Force, has rescued and rehabilitated 168 children—mostly boys—from factories in and around Chennai, and five other girls who were trafficked and sexually exploited at work. 

“A good number of children I meet aren’t even aware that child labour is a punishable offence,” says Mercy. “It is only when these establishments are raided and the police get involved that they sense that something is amiss. Many times, this very fear stops them from talking during investigations, and it takes a few days of engagement for them to see that we are here to help them,” she adds.

The ICWO has partnered with 38 NGOs in all 38 districts of Tamil Nadu to build a network of local resource persons and rescue trafficked children to and from the smaller towns and villages of the state. About 80% of the children they rescue come from other states, including Jharkhand, West Bengal and Rajasthan, who either flee their homes and are picked up by agents at railway stations; or whose families are lured with the promise of  financial security.

“We find unemployment and poverty to be the two leading causes of child trafficking across the country,” says AJ Hariharan, Founder-Secretary, ICWO. 

Over the last three decades, the organisation has been working in partnership with the government, civil society and communities to support marginalised and exploited women and children across India. 

The child trafficking network is vast, complex and interlinked,” says Hariharan. He notes that at the bottom of this structure are smaller agents who are employed to be on a perpetual lookout for vulnerable families—alcoholic fathers, widowed mothers, and parents who are unemployed or have extramarital relationships. 

“They prey on the family’s emotional state, promising them money and better quality of life if the child is sent to work in another city. In a new land where they don’t have friends or family and cannot speak the local language, the child has no way to escape by the time they realise what they’ve gotten themselves into,” says Hariharan.

Every case, a unique situation

According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), a total of 6,533 people were reported to be trafficked in 2021, of which 2,877 were children—eight trafficked a day.

Child Rights and You (CRY) lists eight primary causes for child trafficking in the country: lack of education, child marriage, cultural and traditional influences, corruption and lack of enforcement, demand for child labour and exploitation, political instability, gender discrimination, and inadequate social protection mechanisms.

Families in dire financial conditions are often approached by traffickers with an offer to buy their children, and with no other escape from their relentless poverty, parents tend to comply. The traffickers also exploit their lack of awareness, according to CRY.

“At times, families who are in a long-standing cycle of debt are told their daughters can work as house helps in other cities where wages are high. They are given an initial advance of Rs 10,000 or Rs 20,000 and promised more in the coming months. But the girls find themselves somewhere in a Middle Eastern country in a big house of 30-40 people, where children are employed to work. They are trapped and highly susceptible to sexual exploitation,” says Hariharan.

In some other cases, boys between the ages of nine and 14 are sent to work so that their sisters can get married. They end up in jewellery shops and garment factories in unknown cities where there is a shortage of cheap labour. They are made to share 500-800 square feet rooms with 13 to 15 children, he notes.

ICWO also supports rescued children in rehabilitation and offers financial assistance for higher education to keep them from falling back into the cycle of exploitation.   

Building army of anti-trafficking youth

One of AHTC’s key verticals is youth engagement and sensitisation. 

In the last two years, ICWO has trained one lakh students from 109 colleges in 34 districts of Tamil Nadu. The training focuses on outdoor theatre forms to disseminate information and raise awareness of child trafficking in smaller towns and villages.

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“We have a street theatre script on trafficking that touches upon causes, risks and signs to look out for. We have taken this to 10 college campuses in Chennai and trained students with an interest in theatre to perform,” says Praveena Solomon, State Coordinator, ICWO. 

“They also send out all helplines—1098 (Child Line), 181 (TN Women Helpline) and our own anti-trafficking helpline—9087161161, to increase the reporting of cases,” she adds.  

In 34 districts across Tamil Nadu, ICWO has shared the script with colleges and universities, where students are mentored by a team of professors on the subject of trafficking and how to stop it. A new batch is trained every year, adds Solomon.

Former IPS officer PM Nair, who served the National Human Rights Commission as its Nodal Officer, Anti-Human Trafficking, has been mentoring ICWO in its AHTC programmes, particularly in engaging with law enforcement agencies. As Project Coordinator, Anti-Human Trafficking with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, New Delhi, Nair trained more than 11,000 police officials and prosecutors across India and set up nine anti-human trafficking units.

“While working in trafficking, there is often a mismatch between NGOs and the police, which stems from a lack of trust and familiarity,” says Nair, adding that ICWO attempts to bridge this gap.

As an official who linked the police department and NGOs in a national-level synergy to build a task force against trafficking, Nair says identifying and rescuing trafficked children is a collaborative job. “When the police work with NGOs, we get counsellors who help us with the investigation, and they get our support in taking the case forward and ensuring justice. This in effect makes a strong and consistent task force against child trafficking.”