Over 7,000 women, children saved from being trafficked in 5 yr in Nepal: Police

Over 7,000 women, girls and children have been saved from being trafficked to India and China through the porous Indo-Nepal borders in the last five years by the Nepal Police, a senior police official said on Sunday.

A total of 7,029 women, girls and children, of which 3,896 were under the age of 18 years, have been rescued from border points mainly on the Indo-Nepal border areas by the police, Nepal Police Spokesperson and Senior Superintendent of Police Uttam Raj Subedi told reporters here.

They were mainly rescued from Jhapa, Ilam, Morang, Udaypur, Sankhuwasabha, Parsa, Sarlahi, Mohottari, Siraha, Chitwan, Makwanpur, Nuwakot, Sindhuli, Nawalparasi, Rupandehi, Kapilvastu, Gulmi, Dang, Banke, Bardiya, Jumla, Kailali and Kanchanpur districts while being trafficked India and China, he added.

SSP Subedi said that Nepali women and girls are vulnerable to trafficking due to the porous border with India, and Nepal Police teams have been deployed in these areas to prevent trafficking of children, girls and women.

Also, Nepal Police has set up rehabilitation centres for survivors of human-trafficking in Jhapa, Kathmandu, Sindhupalchowk, Parsa, Chitwan, Kailali and Banke districts, he added.

Januka Dhakal, vice-chair of Samaj Utthan Mahila Manch, an non-government organisation which is working to prevent trafficking of girls and women, said lack of awareness and poverty made women and girls more vulnerable to trafficking.

Traffickers target such women and girls with the promise of lucrative jobs in foreign countries. Most of such women end up in brothels in India, she said, adding that girls and women are trafficked mainly for prostitution, sex slavery and forced labour.

Nepal's anti-trafficking law stipulates maximum sentence of 20-year in jail and a fine up to Rs 2,00,000 for anyone found guilty of human-trafficking.

Nepal Police is also planning to establish a separate Human Trafficking Bureau to prevent human-trafficking in Nepal.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has approved a proposal submitted by IGP of Nepal Police Sarbendra Khanal seeking establishment of the Bureau and a Cyber Bureau, the spokesperson said.

"We hope that it will be more easier to prevent trafficking of girls and women once the bureaus are set up," SSP Subedi said.