By IANS,
New Delhi : India has ratified the United Nations Convention against Organised Crime, and its three protocols, which aims at combating trafficking, migrant smuggling and illicit trafficking in firearms, a statement by an NGO said Friday.
“Today India has ratified the United Nations Convention against Organised Crime also known as Palermo Protocol and its three protocols. This convention is the main international instrument in the fight against transnational organized crime,” a statement by the Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA), a child rights organisation, said.
According to the statement India has emerged as one of the biggest source, route and destination country for victims of trafficking.
“Apart from international trafficking, India also has a big trafficking problem within the country, children trafficked for labour and young girls being trafficked for sexual exploitation,” it said.
The three protocols which supplement the convention target specific areas of organized crime, namely trafficking in people, migrant smuggling and illicit trafficking in firearms, it further added.
R.S. Chaurasia of BBA said: “This ratification is a shot in the arm for all the anti-human trafficking activists like us as the lack of a comprehensive legislation and policy in India has often been the reason for the lack of law enforcement and knowledge on the issue.”
“Ratification of this convention means that it is now binding upon India to develop a law that conforms to the International Convention and its provisions. Often, the criminal gangs involved in large scale kidnappings, abductions and forced labour of children go scotfree as the laws in the country are more biased towards prosecuting the employers or pimps in case of prostitution. But traffickers of forced labour will now come within the purview of the law in the country,” he added.
According to government figures, 60,000 children go missing annually in India and BBA said that majority of them fall prey to trafficking.