Thursday, September 15 2005 10:13 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Guwahati: Trafficking of women from the North East has increased considerably in recent years with Guwahati being identified as the main transit point for sending girls to brothels in Siliguri, Kolkata and New Delhi.

A study conducted by an NGO, Global Organisation for Life Development (GOLD), found that 48 per cent of sex workers at Khalpara in Siliguri were from Assam and three per cent from the other North-Eastern states.

Traffickers ensnare an estimated 500 women, including minors, every year from Assam alone and the situation might actually worsen in the next few years, said Assam's Inspector General of Police (CID) G Bhuyan.

The police faced a Herculean task of nabbing the culprits as only a miniscule percentage of such crimes were reported to the police, he said.

In the last five years, only 22 cases were registered with the police and based on these 44 people were arrested, Bhuyan, who is also the nodal officer for the anti-trafficking programme in Assam, said.

"We have to receive complaints to make arrests as it is difficult to just go and arrest somebody without proper information. We send teams to different parts of the country, mainly to New Delhi, Haryana, Mumbai and Siliguri, as and when we get information on trafficked women," he said.

Traffickers generally target girls from poor families living along the rivers who are displaced by regular floods, take them outside the state and force them into prostitution.

Bhuyan said human trafficking is more serious where minor girls are involved and NGOs should focus on how to stop them from falling victims.

NGOs could play a critical role in understanding the real magnitude of the problem, informing the public and the media, as well as prompting the police to act against those involved in trafficking, said Ajit Joy, Project Coordinator in the victim-support and human trafficking wing of the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime.

Human trafficking is the third largest organised crime in the world after Arms and Narcotics but there is little information and systematic study on this issue, he said.

The issue of trafficking was low on the priority list of the police and this is particularly more in the extremist-infested states as it is not a law and order problem for them, Joy said.

A NHRC survey had revealed that only 40 per cent of policemen were aware of human trafficking and only six per cent had any kind of training to deal with the problem.