India Country Report - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

CHAPTER
6
CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS’ INITIATIVES
For the past decade and a half, substantial efforts have been made by civil
society organizations in their efforts to prevent and combat trafficking in
women and children. It is impossible to cover the good work of all these
organizations, but the following is an effort to document some of the most
innovative and appropriate ones.
ATSEC… Networking Initiatives
Trafficking is an organized crime and it requires an equally organized counter
force to combat it. There are quite a few active, sustained networks that fight
trafficking in <strong>India</strong>. ATSEC or Action against Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation
of Children is one of the oldest and most sustained anti-trafficking networks
that has been functional since 1998 in the South Asian Region.
ATSEC <strong>India</strong> has been the
most effective network
against trafficking in
the country and is
headquartered in Kolkata
with an NGO called Socio
Legal Aid Research and
Training Centre (SLARTC).
ATSEC 11 is the first network in South Asia to come up exclusively against
trafficking. It has a formidable legion of NGOs and community based
organizations (more than 500 in all) from across the country supported by
several international agencies and inter-governmental organizations that
fight trafficking through extensive networking on prevention, protection and
prosecution from the macro to the micro scale. ATSEC is also a network of
networks, i.e. there are several smaller networks that are in turn ATSEC members.
ATSEC is spread over five countries – Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and
<strong>India</strong>, with two more to be added soon – Afghanistan and Mauritius.
ATSEC <strong>India</strong> has been the most effective network against trafficking in the
country and is headquartered in Kolkata with an NGO called Socio Legal Aid
Research and Training Centre (SLARTC).
Some ATSEC Achievements
ATSEC in West Bengal – As one of the pro-active members of the
network, SLARTC is doing prosecution work on behalf of the State
Judiciary that normally is an exclusive right of State Appointed Public
Prosecutors. This is an extraordinary achievement where an NGO has
been given the authority of substituting the State Machinery’s specific
11 For more information on ATSEC <strong>India</strong> please visit: www.atsecindia.org
<strong>India</strong> <strong>Country</strong> <strong>Report</strong>
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