KATHMANDU, DEC 30 - Country needs to ratify the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (SAARC) Convention to minimise the trafficking in women and children, which is continuing unabated despite the effort of various organisations.
This was emphasised by various activists at a one-day seminar on ‘Trafficking on Women, Present Challenges and Future Strategies’ organised by Pravasi Nepali Mitra Manch (PNMM) in co-operation with United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) in the capital today.
Speaking on the occasion, Durga Ghimire, representative of Agro forestry, Basic Health and Co-operatives (ABC) Nepal, opined that the country needs to take special steps to help trafficked women return to their home country.
"There are hundreds of women who wish to return to Nepal," she said, adding that various organisations working on the issue would not be able to solve the problem unless a national strategy is formulated. "Simply rescuing a few hundred women cannot change the situation when 10 to 12 thousand per year are being trafficked," she stressed.
Similarly, Shyam Sundar Sharma, joint secretary of the Ministry for Women Children and Social Welfare, said that Nepal must ratify the convention to add responsibility to the countries where women are mostly trafficked.
Sharma pointed that India tops the list, among the countries, where most of the Nepalese trafficked women end up. He also said that strong laws would help to control the problem. "Laws of both the countries should be worked on for preventing trafficking in women," he said.
He also said that poverty alone is not the main reason behind the cause of trafficking. In fact domestic violence, dowry system and other cultural reasons were supportive factors for the increasing trend.
Similarly Aruna Thapa, programme manager of UNIFEM said that children and women are being used as
commodities in the trade that gives heavy profits with
minimal investment of the traffickers.
Advocate Shanta Thapaliya said that Nepal’s laws are not effective in controlling trafficking on women and children. According to her, amendment of the civil code and framing of strict laws to punish both the buyers and sellers is necessary. She also said ratifying convention is not enough as it’s just for moral pressure. "Nepal needs a bilateral treaty with India restricting human trafficking," she stressed.Posted on: 2003-12-31 04:44

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