Sex trafficking rescues decline, social workers worried
Goa police recorded five rescues of sex trafficking victims across the state this year as of June, with police's nodal agency for such missions saying that efforts have been flagging over the years.
The agency, the Vasco-based Anyay Rahit Zindagi (Arz), said that proactive measures to help women trapped in the flesh trade have been missing.
Arz director Arun Pandey said, 'Over the past couple of years, the volume of rescues made by police has gone down. You cannot conduct raids and rescues from the police station.'
Pandey said, 'You need to put in the legwork and identify the areas where the trafficking business is taking place.'
He said that in 2024, police logged eight rescues across the state, fewer than in 2023, which saw 25 rescues. He said the rescues numbered 19 in 2022, sliding from 39 in 2021.
Twenty rescues occurred in 2020, falling from 51 in 2019, Pandey said.
He said that to combat sex trafficking, active measures are necessary to curb the demand and choke the supply. 'An intervention must be made focused on the traffickers,' he said.
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'They induce the demand; hence there's supply.'
Citing a report published by the Goa State AIDS Control Society in 2024, Pandey said that at least 6,000 women of Goan origin and 3,000 women from outside Goa are currently involved in commercial sexual activities in the state.
He emphasised the need to re-ignite the discussion on the anti-trafficking bill so that a consolidated effort — involving the NGOs-govt collaboration — can be launched to tackle the menace.
'A new concerning threat is the emergence of Goa as a source state for trafficking for the purpose of labour exploitation,' Pandey had told
TOI
earlier. Agents spread across the state have developed a wide network through which they approach vulnerable girls and women looking for a better paying job.
'The agents usually seek targets who are technologically proficient and can navigate communications online,' Pandey had said.
'The targets mostly do not meet the agent and receive instructions and money online.'
The agent promises them good pay, mostly as domestic workers in countries such as Bahrain and the UAE. They ensure that the targets receive their visas and passports swiftly and facilitate their medical tests and other formalities required to enter another country. But there have been cases when the promised job turns out to be bonded labour in unforgiving conditions.
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