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Multistakeholder Core Group on Anti Human Trafficking Formed
In a landmark initiative in the field of anti human trafficking, a group of law enforcement agencies, NGOs and business houses in West Bengal along with the United Nations, formed a
Core Group on Anti Human Trafficking in Kolkata on 10 December.
The deliberations in progress: On the dais are Dr PM Nair, UNODC; Mr Sunil Misra, CII; Mr GM Chakravorty, Commissioner of Police, Kolkata; Mr Rajiv Singh, ICC; Mr Gokul Mukherjee, ITC and Mr S N Sarkar, Additional CP, Kolkata The meeting was jointly organized by the Kolkata Police and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). It was chaired by the Commissioner of Police of Kolkata and attended by the Project Coordinator, UNODC; Regional Director, Confederation of Indian Industries (CII); Chief, Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC); Secretary General, Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) and the Regional Head, Indian Tobacco Company (ITC) Limited.
Senior representatives from more than twenty corporate and business houses based in Kolkata, as well as NGOs working on Anti Human Trafficking (AHT) and senior Kolkata police officers also participated in the meeting.
The meeting aimed to generate a collaborative partnership to address human trafficking. The event witnessed detailed discussions between the participants and representatives of various fields, about the role that the corporate houses could play in Anti Human Trafficking initiatives along with the other stakeholders.
The most significant outcomes of the meeting are as follows:
Participants affirmed their commitment to AHT and offered support for any activity that they are called upon to do or are willing to undertake, especially on the rehabilitation of trafficked victims including providing support for counseling, empowerment programmes and even providing employment to these survivors.
Participants at the meeting
Participants agreed to establish a Core Group, including representatives of all sectors. This would be the Nodal Agency to coordinate all AHT activities in Kolkata. The Core Group would be titled
'Kolkata Core Group on Anti Human Trafficking'.
Participants decided to hold the next meeting of the core group on 19th January 2008 (to be hosted by the ITC group). The members of the core group would be announced by UNODC on 17 December 2007, in conjunction with some of the participants.
Several corporate leaders offered support to the various activities, some of which are as follows:
Transferring the Film 'One Life No Price' into a film format with Bangla subtitles and shown in the theatres in West Bengal (CII).
Translating the AHT posters created by UNODC into Bangla and sending them to all Police Stations in West Bengal (ITC).
Translating documents such as Best Practices, SOPs and Hand Books published by UNODC into Bangla and widely disseminated (ICC).
Supporting a secretariat for the Core Group (CII).
Participants welcomed the idea of participating in the UN.GIFT event in Vienna during 13-15 February 2008 and agreed to consider sending their own representatives and also supporting the participation of a few delegates (it was proposed to consider supporting the participation of 3-5 police officials and 3-5 NGOs from West Bengal). However, the details will be finalized in the next meeting of the CG.
The participants appreciated the role of UNODC in creating a movement in the country against human trafficking and welcomed the Joint Initiative of UNODC with Kolkata Police and other stake holders
