India Country Report - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

Preface
The sexual exploitation of children and adolescents especially in the form of
trafficking is a concern that has engaged global attention in the last few decades.
There is a felt need to analyze the new emerging dimensions of the problem and
the challenges it presents in order to undertake integrated inter stakeholder
action to combat the crime. As such the World Congress III Against Sexual
Exploitation of Children and Adolescents, 2008 Brazil takes place at an opportune
time when world wide partnerships are being reinforced to protect children and
youth from all forms of sexual exploitation.
The problem of trafficking of women and children for commercial sexual
exploitation is especially challenging due to its myriad complexities and variations,
especially with new trends of incidence in paedophilia. The Government of <strong>India</strong>
along with it’s partners has taken a pro-active role in combating trafficking and
sexual exploitation with a multi faceted strategy of laws, policies, schemes and
most importantly enabling a protective environment within the community to
help them safeguard their children from evils of trafficking and to enable rescue,
rehabilitation and re-integration of the trafficked victims.
To enable an understanding of the range of activities undertaken in <strong>India</strong> to
tackle sexual exploitation of women and children, the <strong>India</strong> <strong>Country</strong> <strong>Report</strong>
has been prepared with inputs from stakeholders such as Government, both
at the Centre and States, civil society, NGOs, international organizations and
corporate sector. Thus the <strong>Country</strong> <strong>Report</strong> offers a glimpse into some of the major
interventions and best practices which have gone a long way in confronting the
problem. The Government has recently launched Ujjawala – a comprehensive
scheme on to combat trafficking. On the anvil is the Integrated Child Protection
Scheme which provides a protective umbrella for children in distress. Realizing
that public private partnerships is the most effective method of collaboration a
Think Tank for this purpose has been specially constituted.
While much has been accomplished to combat sexual exploitation, there is
realization that more needs to be done to eradicate this menace from our midst.
The way forward is through international cooperation and social responsibility
where all actors participate in a harmonious manner to make the world a better
place for our children.
Anil Kumar
Secretary
Ministry of Women and Child Development
Government of <strong>India</strong>
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<strong>India</strong> <strong>Country</strong> <strong>Report</strong>