Human trafficking is the third largest source of profit for organized crime in the world behind arms and drug trafficking. Assemblies like this one can educate children about the tactics used by traffickers.
How the Prevention of Child Trafficking Program began
One of World’s Children partner organizations, FMM, began a program to prevent child trafficking in villages in India in 2011. We have partnered with FMM to help orphans and vulnerable children for several decades and we currently support five orphanages that they operate.
When they asked World’s Children to help provide funding for such an important project to prevent child trafficking, we said, yes, immediately. World’s Children donors have now been funding this program since 2017.
Rescue Mission
In 2015 at least 126 girls had gone missing from the Prevention of Child Trafficking Team (PCT) project area and are assumed to have been abducted by traffickers. The PCT team performed a rescue operation that freed 30 girls who were then taken to a sanctuary home. Eight pimps, two customers, and 20 traffickers were arrested. We applaud the team for their dedication and bravery.
Knowing that many other children were not rescued in time, The PCT team asked for our support to help their program grow so they could stop trafficking altogether in an area of India where trafficking is an urgent issue. Since then, they have been able to expand their successful education campaign.
The Plan
In 2017, World’s Children began funding a three-year Prevention of Child Trafficking (PCT) Program conceived and operated by Catholic sisters in India. The program was designed to educate and train adults and children how to identify and thwart traffickers.
The total population of the target area for the project was 151,000 people in a particularly vulnerable area for trafficking in the state of Telangana. The program was so successful, we extended support for another three years.
Since 2017 the PCT team of five staff members has created awareness and prevention programs in 211 villages educating over 130,985 boys, girls and community members about how to prevent trafficking. The team has organized Child Vigilant Groups in 131 schools.
In this photo, village women are learning about the tricks of child traffickers in a meeting organized by the Prevention of Child Trafficking (PCT) team. The PCT team is providing children and adults with the knowledge about how traffickers dupe women or simply snatch unwatched girls.
The program is now going into its sixth year.
The team is continuing their current program and enlarge the area to include villages in more districts in Telangana, India that are hard-hit by traffickers.
The continuing program will serve 393,629 people in three districts that include both urban and rural communities. With a blanket of watchful eyes, we believe child trafficking can be stopped in this targeted area. Be sure to read the full report with photos and true stories.
2022 Report on Prevention of Child Trafficking Program
See Prevention of Child Trafficking Posters
The PCT Program has proven to be very successful and provides a successful model for others to follow. It is our hope the project can move to other areas of high trafficking activity and make it impossible for traffickers to take women and girls in the areas touched by this program.
