KATHMANDU, APRIL 27

Director of Anti-Human Trafficking Bureau of Nepal Police Ramesh Prasad Rai has urged fellow cops to see the cases of human trafficking from the victims' point of view.

Addressing a two-day workshop organised by the People's Forum for Human Rights Nepal for police personnel on anti-human trafficking laws in Kathmandu, Rai said police personnel need to sympathise with the victims of human trafficking and not dismiss the cases of their daughter's disappearance as mere elopement with boys.

Spokesperson for Anti-Human Trafficking Bureau Dan Bahadur Malla said the programme had enhanced the participants' knowledge to a colossal extent.

He said the workshop had encouraged participants to share more relevant information among themselves in the future.

Police Inspector Gyanmanjari Sharma said she had difficulty finding differences between human trafficking and human smuggling but after attending the programme she developed clarity about human trafficking issues.

Sharma said the programme had enhanced the participants' knowledge regarding the issues of human trafficking crimes and foreign employment.

Adviser of People's Forum for Human Rights Nepal Shom Prasad Luitel said the objective of the programme was to sensitise police personnel on various issues of human trafficking, including laws and challenges to crime investigation.

He urged police personnel to deal with the issues of human trafficking from the victim's perspective. Luitel said police personnel ought to understand that even a minor mistake committed by them could hinder the victims' ability to get justice in human trafficking cases.

'Our society is such that it tends to exploit the victims of human trafficking.

Police personnel must be committed to ensuring justice for the victims,' he added.

A version of this article appears in the print on April 28, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.