WCD organises conference on women and child trafficking

New Delhi: The Delhi Secretariat on Wednesday hosted a conference on Rehabilitation and Combating Trafficking of Women and Children in Delhi. The event was attended by Delhi Chief Secretary Vijay Dev and Regional Head of United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Sergey Kapinos along with other major stakeholders, including DCPCR and UN Women.

The conference came about as a result of effort from the Delhi government's Department of Women and Child Development.

In his inaugural address, Dev stressed on enhanced accountability, collective action and lessons from best practices with regards to countering this problem.

The conference spoke of coordinated efforts by all governmental and non-governmental agencies using existing institutional capabilities to make the best use for identification, rescue, and rehabilitation of women trafficking victims to integrate them with mainstream society.

The issues discussed included using Aadhar Cards, missing children apps and helplines to locate the victims and identify them. Panelists also spoke of the need to have a proper individual care plan considering the natural background that "Every Child has a family". It was also suggested that if any child abstains from school even for a day then fact should be in the knowledge of the parents via SMS and Whatsapp facilities.

High acquittal rates in women trafficking cases and lack of coordination in investigations were also a major part of discussions at the conference. It was suggested that a common website portal be put in place bring all efforts together.

The conference ended with the Department of Women and Child Development resolving to bring a policy document tackling this issue in Delhi at the soonest.