Concerted efforts stressed to combat human trafficking

Kathmandu, August 15

Inspector General of Police Sarbendra Khanal has stressed the need for all stakeholders to work together to make concerted efforts towards ending human trafficking, a pressing issue dogging the nation.

Speaking at an interaction programme on ‘Partnership Role of Stakeholders in the National Campaign against Human Trafficking’ organised in Kathmandu today, he suggested that coordination and collaboration among stakeholder agencies would help dismantle the complicated web of human trafficking that spanned beyond the border.

“All stakeholders need to work together to bring to book the racketeers operating one of the darkest realities on earth,” IGP Khanal said, adding that a special committee would be formed to make the fight against human trafficking more effective. The committee will comprise representatives from all stakeholders.

He said Nepal Police had developed and adopted a strategy to ensure safety of trafficking victims, their rescue and rehabilitation; capacity development of Anti-human Trafficking Bureau and its expansion in all provinces; coordination with the Interpol for rescue of victims and vulnerable people abroad and heightened surveillance at borders. Its anti-trafficking strategy also included coordination with stakeholder agencies at Tribhuvan International Airport and public awareness among population vulnerable to trafficking.

Eshor Raj Poudel, director general at the Department of Immigration, said it was working in close coordination with Nepal Police against the modern form of slavery, and emphasised concerted efforts of all stakeholders for ending the problem. Director General at the Department of Foreign Employment Hari Gyawali, Joint Attorney Lokraj Parajuli, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizens Rudra Sharma and Senior Superintendent of Police Ishwar Babu Karki at Anti-human Trafficking Bureau said they were making necessary efforts to control and end organised crime from their respective places.

Evidences suggested that Nepal was not only the country of origin of human trafficking, but it had also become the country of transit for the human smugglers. In 2017, two Sri Lankan women were rescued by police in Kathmandu. They were being trafficked to Malaysia with Nepal as their transit.

Human traffickers were exploiting Nepali women and girls through sex trafficking and domestic servitude in Nepal, India, Gulf countries, Asia and Kenya, said a report released by the US Department of State.