Union home minister Rajnath Singh, terming trafficking a major challenge, said that, when compared to other trafficking, sex tourism and child pornography have become the major threats to children.
On Wednesday, Singh attended the 4th ministerial meeting of the South Asia Initiative to End Violence Against Children (SAIEVAC) and it was there, he said that everyone should be protective of children, taking it as a responsibility.
"Trafficking is another major challenge for all of us. With increasing access to information technology and changing nature of our globalised economy; new threats for children are emerging - sex tourism, child pornography, online threats to children among others," he said.
He even added that several children are adversely affected due to rapid climate change, disasters and conflict.
"We are increasingly realizing that we cannot commit ourselves to protecting children without providing an overarching social protection network to them and their families. The biggest challenge is to identify and track children and their families who are vulnerable and reach out to them," he said.
Reacting further against trafficking, Singh said that, Indian government is trying to ensure a protective environment for children by bringing even the children under the purview of social security, by linking them with AADHAAR, which will empower them to access to their entitlements directly without any hindrance.
"We have set up a National Portal -the Track Child which not only has data on 'missing' children but it also has live database to monitor the progress of the 'found' children who are availing various services in different Child Care Institutions," he said.
Singh further added that in the recent times, a large number of children were rescued and restored to their families. Under operation smile, a few children are even provided with a protected environment.
Singh opined that, safety, security, dignity and wellbeing of our children will determine the well being and strength of our country.
"SAIEVAC is a coalition of States which aims at protection of the rights of children, particularly protection of children from all forms of discrimination, abuse, neglect, exploitation, torture, trafficking; that is any kind of violence. The mandate of SAIEVAC is to safeguard childhood and to positively value children," he said.
Singh said that in the present world, children face many challenges. Many children are still under poverty and deprivation, despite the economic growth. This adversely affects the survival, health and overall development of children.
By Phani Ch
