Call for operating procedure, role

SNS, SILIGURI. 28 SEPTEMBER: Experts and officials working for child rights antihuman trafficking today called tor formalising a' Standard Operating procedure' (SOP) and active involvement of governments of both countries of India and Nepal for repatriating Nepalese children who are trafficked to India.

At a programme titled 'Cross-Border Consultation on Repatriation of Children from Nepal' in Siliguri today, Indian officials, including those of the Sasashtra Seema Sal (SSB), Police, CWC and the district administration, all key players in the repatriation of children from Nepal, for the first time got together with NGOs and d arified their roles and responsibilities, while dealing with cross-border repatriation of children from Nepal and their limitations and challenges in terms of the same, owing  to no proper guidelines or mechanisms for the repatriation process.

"Over the years, repatriation of Nepali children from India has been managed directly between NG0s, with little engagement and accountability of government counterparts", said Sekhar Saha, the North Bengal Unit Coordinator for Child in Need Institute (CINI), which organised today's programme in collaboration with the Anti-trafficking Network and the District Child Protection Unit, Darjeeling.

29 September 2018

"In terms of Bangladeshi children, the Indian government, along with the West Bengal government, has formed the West Bengal Task Force and made a SOP for the rescue, repatriation and reintegration for the children from Bangladesh.

However, in terms of Nepal, this is majorly missing," Mr. Saha added.

According to him, an SOP for Nepal is the need of the hour, which can help expedite the repatriation process of children with the involvement of government departments of both the countries.

The Inspector General of the SSB, Siliguri Frontier HQ, Shri Kumar Bandopadhyay, who was the Guest of Honor at the programme, highlighted the need to ensure the rights of each child. He asked each participant to think why there is trafficking and other children's issues in our region, and called for all to go into the core issues first. He told the gathering that the best thing to do would be to educate the children and make them aware of their rights and spread awareness in the community on social issues like trafficking and abuse. "Whatever plans and proposals we make for the repatriation has to be simple, and as we are doing it for children, it should be for the best interest of the child so that they do not suffer," he said. "The present system is slightly different, and there arc loopholes," Mr. Bandopadhyay added.

According to Gauri Pradhan, the founder member of Child Workers in Nepal Concerned Centre (CWIN) , "The recent political changes in Nepal have affected the other sectors too, while the country has now adopted a federal system of government, with it having seven new provinces. The provincial governments are very new, and formulating new laws will take time, though the process is already under way," he said, also stressing on proper coordination between district child boards of the two countries and making the verification process of the children better. He assured that he and his fellow members from Nepal would go back to their country and lobby with their government on this issue as well.