CALANGUTE: At least 200 people, including young children and nuns, marched from Candolim beach to Calangute on Tuesday, as part of a beach rally to create awareness about human trafficking, and how the menace destroys lives.
At the start of the rally, children from Little Flower of Jesus school, Calangute, presented a skit on how young girls get trapped in the flesh trade, some of them after being snatched away from their families when they were mere infants. Sister Dhanam of ‘Amrut’, an NGO, described the various types of human trafficking.
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Participants also expressed solidarity with the victims of trafficking rackets, who are forced into being commercial sex workers in the State of Goa.
Roshan Mathias of NGO Mog Foundation, who highlighted the findings of anti-trafficking studies, said it’s mainly youngsters in the age group of 21-30 years who fall prey to these sex rackets because of unemployment. “The number of victims being trafficked into Goa is on the rise because of a demand from tourists. The victim women are allegedly being brought into the state with false promises of employment in various tourism-related businesses,” said the activists at the rally. “The rally is to let the victims of human trafficking know that help exists and there is hope of rescue,” said representatives of Mukti Kiran and MOG Foundation, the organisers of the rally.
According to a report by NHRC, Goa is one of the major destinations in India for trafficking related to commercial sexual activities. A report prepared by ARZ stated that 400 girls and women were rescued in Goa during the 2014-2019 period. These victims were trafficked into Goa from 24 states.
