NGOs to MPs: Retain Justice Verma recommendations on trafficking

New Delhi: A group of NGOs today appealed to MPs to retain Justice J S Verma's recommendations on child and women trafficking in the bill to replace the Criminal Law Amendment Ordinance expected to be tabled in the Budget session of Parliament beginning tomorrow.

Anti-trafficking NGOs Apne Aap Women Worldwide and Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) along with Global March Against Child Labour made the appeal at a press conference here on 'Human Trafficking and Missing Children'.

"We take this opportunity to appeal to parliamentarians to retain the recommendations made by Justice Verma Committee on child and women trafficking, in the bill to replace criminal law amendment ordinance," Ruchira Gupta, Founder, Apne Aap Women Worldwide, said.

Justice Verma Committee. PTI

The NGOs said the only way to stop further exploitation of children and women through "forced domestic servitude or prostitution" is by first "defining trafficking" which the Verma Committee does.

"The proposed definition of trafficking in the Committee report decriminalises the woman and shifts the blame from the victim to the perpetrator - the person, who recruits, harbours, receives, transfers and transports," Gupta added.

Kailash Satyarthi, founder of Bachpan Bachao Andolan spoke in similar vein.

"Most criminal laws today punish the sufferers more than the perpetrators and if his recommendations, which places prostitution as a form of violence against women, are accepted, it will provide relief to 3 million girls and women trapped in the trade," Gupta said.

"Out of these 3 million, 1.4 million are young girls, according to CBI data for 2011-12," she added.

Bhuwan Ribhu, member BBA, said the issue of child trafficking and prostitution should not be seen in isolation. The Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance, 2013 aims to provide a more stringent law to protect women against crimes, including sexual violence.

PTI