Missing: Anti-Trafficking Awareness Drive
Human trafficking is one of the biggest organized crimes in the world and in India. The majority of human trafficking victims are used for sexual exploitation; others for bonded labour, domestic work, military conscription, marriage, illicit adoption, sport, begging, or organ harvesting.
According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), 8132 cases of cases of human trafficking were reported across India in 2016. In the same year, 15379 people were trafficked, of whom 9034 victims were below the age of 18. Of these, 4,911 or 54% were girls and 4,123 or 46% were boys. Approximately 50 percent of human trafficking victims are women and girls and upto 50 percent are minors.
Human trafficking, and specifically girl trafficking is a heinous crime which is rampant in the country. Only 10% of human trafficking in India is internation; the remaining 90% operates inter-state.
Save Missing Girls is a non-profit organization dedicated specifically to combating girl trafficking in the country. In November 2019, Missing launched the “Missing: Anti Trafficking Awareness Drive”, an initiative to fight girl trafficking with the weapon of knowledge and insight, in collaboration with Tapas Foundation.
Tapas Foundation set out on a pan-India initiative focused on engaging with school and college students across the country to make them aware of the prevalence of girl trafficking and the tactics of the traffickers. Through intensive and engaging workshops, we made them aware of protective measures and their rights as citizens of the country.
According to a World Vision India study, about 59% of adolescents did not know of any way to protect themselves from trafficking, and 72% did not know about services that could help them.
A major goal of the initiative was to equip youngsters, who are the most at risk of being trafficked, with crucial knowledge that could save them in these moments before or after being trafficked. Tapas Foundation did this through their trademark street plays, interactive sessions, workshops and quizzes. To further drive home this knowledge in the most engaging way possible, Missing Link Trust has designed “Missing: Game for a cause”, an interactive game which allows the player to visualize the experience of a victim and learn the best practices in the scenario, available in many vernacular languages.
The initiative spanning the nine states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab and Telangana introduced the students to this game and made them aware of the threat they faced and how to deal with it while building on their understanding of the issue and the stigmas around it.
