'Students are turning to sex work to fund their lifestyles'

Twenty Eight minutes hindi documentary film Amoli on Child Sex Trafficking in our country raises serious concern about rising demands for children in the commercial sex industry The documentary sparks urgent need in amendments to the existing law so that these customers who pay to have sex with children can be punishedThe film features heartwrenching stories of children who have been forced into the sex industry and interviews survivors who have been rescued families of girl children who are still missing and activists who have been attempting to create awareness on Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children CSEoC and prevent the trafficking of childrenThe screening followed by a panel discussion was organised by Changeorg and Youth Ki Awaaz at St Xaviers College following which the filmmakers and other experts interacted with a young audience on the issue of CSEoCJasmine Kaur Roy Director Amoli spoke on the power of cinema to impact the conversation around customers who create the demand for minors She said We hope Amoli will help in starting a conversation around the urgent need for reforms in reducing child trafficking cases Our aim is to encourage the policy makers to create laws that punish not just traffickers but also penalise the customers who foster the demand for minorsAvinash Roy WriterDirector Amoli stressed on how cinema can be used as a tool to mainstream the conversation around commercial sexual exploitation of children said It is hard to estimate the exact number of trafficked minors in India And we have tried to highlight that aspect through this film We dont expect one film to resolve the issue of child trafficking but hopefully it sheds light on the institutional practice of trafficking in IndiaMaking of Amoli was not less than a challenge as the documentary team had to invest nine months of extensive travel to Bihar Silliguri Bhoisar in Maharashtra and West Bengal meeting convincing the survivors parents pimps and rescue team membersMelissa Walavalkar Director of Justice Solutions International Justice Mission said It is not enough for laws to be enacted but for the law to be implemented This coupled with building the capacity of the Criminal Justice System ensures its effectiveness and establishes the objective to secure justice for victims of violent crimes like sex trafficking IJM Mumbais effort is to continue to support the Criminal Justice System in the successful rescue of victims efficient and swift prosecution of offenders and effective restoration of survivorsVinod Kumar Menon Special Editor Investigations MidDay who has extensively reported on human trafficking related issues said The source of child trafficking for the sex industry has traditionally been the poorer states The supply chain begins in a smaller city and leads through multiple transit points to the bigger destinations like Mumbai Delhi and Kolkata But the trends are visibly shifting Kamathipura in Mumbai has almost ceased to exist as a red light district in recent times Clandestine sex trafficking operations have moved to private guest houses Globally and in India as well students are turning to sex work to fund their lifestylesRobin Chaurasiya CoFounder of nonprofit organisation Kranti said Kranti really wants to show the world that these girls despite all the challenges and horrors they have witnessed are just typical normal children at the end of the day They need what all kids need love acceptance family friends laughter and may be some extra support in education or therapy But given all these things not only can they be normal contributing members of society they can also be phenomenal community leaders and change agents We just need to be willing to invest in themAbout Commercial Sexual Exploitation of ChildrenCommercial Sexual Exploitation of Children CSEoC one of the worst forms of human rights violations is a demanddriven phenomenon facilitated and perpetuated by those who exploit women and children calling themselves as customers and exacerbated by the nexus of traffickers and conspiratorsThe main targets of this organized crime are minors and young girls in particular Trafficking of children for CSEoC is multideterministic in nature and is a result of several sociocultural and socioeconomic factors It thrives on a demand and supply cycle which in turn is facilitated by societal agents and is aided by the easy availability of a large vulnerable population CSEoC like any business model exploits children among a nexus of customers and the enablers handlers traffickers conspirators financers pimps etc for profitsAbout ChangeorgChangeorg is the worlds largest technology platform for social change It allows people to start and support campaigns on issues that concern them Over 1 crore people currently use Changeorg in IndiaAbout Youth Ki AwaazYouth Ki Awaaz is Indias largest citizen journalism platform It represents young Indias voice on critical issues By being a platform built for and by the people it democratises the media by putting citizens at the center of it Youth Ki Awaaz provides a space for citizens to write and share stories on things that matter and create an impactCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates