Expressing concerns over the ever-increasing sexual abuse and trafficking of children in Manipur, joint director of Social Welfare department, Bantee Konthoujam on Tuesday called for the need to extend awareness on the issue at community level.
He was addressing the one-day state level advocacy meeting to effectively address child trafficking and child sexual abuse in Manipur on Tuesday at TRI, organised by Manipur Commission for Protection of Child Rights (MCPCR) and FXB India Suraksha.
Bantee said that child sexual abuse is a big problem in India and reports of the cases or proceedings of cases in Manipur is also increasing. Reason behind the increasing sexual abuse should be researched as there is still something which is very important to fix, he said.
MCPCR chairperson, Ph Manibabu, said that trafficking cases are high in rural and hill districts and that trafficking outside a state or nation will involve our own state’s agency or person. Discussion on cases or increasing cases will not solve the problem, he said and called on all stakeholders including every citizen to unite and work together.
He also said that in any cases related to crime, the social investigation report (SIR) is always mission. If the crimes are investigated, then it will be very helpful in solving the problem, he added.
Joint secretary of finance work, government of Manipur, Regina Hongray said increasing numbers of crimes in Manipur means there are mentally sick people in the society.
During the technical session, MCPCR programme officer, Sumel Yumnam spoke on roles of MCPCR in protection of child rights; programme officer of FXB India Suraksha, Sunil Meitei spoke on experience sharing on human trafficking cases, gaps and challenges and needs of coordination to combat the issue; Child Welfare Committee, Imphal West, chairperson Thiyam Rajkishore spoke on child safety, provision under JJ Act 2015, POCSO act 2019 and POCSO rule 2020 and RIMS associate professor, S Gojendra spoke on psychological challenges and management for victim or survivors of child sexual abuse.
