Important study on trafficking and safety conducted along with BSF along Indo-Bangladesh border

Justice and Care in partnership with the Border Security Force conducted a study to understand the nuances of trafficking hidden within illegal migration, assist the BSF in detection, and provide casework support for victims of trafficking intercepted at the border.

The pilot initiative introduced new strategies to tackle trafficking and adopt victim-centric approaches to interception so that the crime is detected correctly at transit points and victims repatriated sensitively. This was experimented along a part of the Indo-Bangladesh border.

Through the study of eight villages around two check posts at the Indo-Bangladesh border in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, the research provides a glimpse into the issues faced by border communities and its relation to trafficking.

Supporting us in the endeavour, 15 dedicated community volunteers belonging to villages near the border conducted field studies on site for the study. In a shocking indicator of the high levels of vulnerability, one of these volunteers was trafficked during the course of the study. She is one among a handful of young girls who escaped from her captors and got home safe. Together with the other volunteers, she has become a champion on the ground to spread awareness on human trafficking.

The partnership is playing a significant role in the facilitation of highly successful and comprehensive interventions and helping understand the critical nuances of human trafficking along the border.