Missing Child Alert
Missing Child Alert (MCA) is a project responding to the grave issue of child trafficking and child labour in South Asia. It is led by Plan International and South Asia Initiative to End Violence Against Children (SAIEVAC) with financial support from Post Code Loterij, Netherlands. The project is implemented in Bangladesh, Nepal and India.
In India, the project is a partnership between Plan India and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) like Shakti Vahini, Gram Niyojan Kendra and Child in Need Institute in the states of UP, Bihar and West Bengal. Its primary objective is the prevention and protection of children from being trafficked. A formal agreement between the three states, SAARC/SAIEVAC and other related organisations focuses on developing a regional cross border preventive child trafficking alert system in Bangladesh, India and Nepal. The project works closely with the Ministry of Women and Child Development, State level Child Welfare Committees and local police departments to strengthen regional instruments and policies to ensure justice.
The Missing Child Alert project covers:
- Prior to stepping out of a safe place: Protection and prevention of vulnerable communities at source
- During transit: Interception with the help of advance alert system
- Post victimisation: Rescue, rehabilitation, repatriation and reintegration of the victims of trafficking with help of uniform case management system
- Social policy and legal reforms: Engaging state and non-state actors to review and strengthen national and regional level legal frameworks to facilitate cross-border cooperation on counter trafficking intervention
MCA has so far supported 586 trafficked victims and vulnerable children giving them education and income generation support. It has indirectly helped 20,000 families in India. The project has also successfully provided protection and rescued 84 Bangladeshi and Nepalese children of which 38 children were repatriated to Bangladesh and Nepal.
More recently, the project focus has shifted to include tri-lateral advocacy, closer coordination with national and state governments, capacity building of Child Welfare Committees, law enforcement and the Border Security Forces, implementation partners and CSOs.
Key Achievements
- More than 400 children were intercepted at two Indo-Nepal border points and one on the Indo-Bangladesh border
- 78 children were prevented from unsafe cross border movement (potentially being trafficked)
- 39 survivors of Bangladeshi origin and 17 survivors of Nepali origin have been repatriated from India
- MCA partner organisations are now members of the task force appointed by the Government of India to implement the Standard Operating Procedure for repatriation of victims of child trafficking between India and Bangladesh
- A National Steering Committee led by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Govt. of Bangladesh has been formed
- An alliance is now in place with the National Informatics Center, State Legal Service Authority (SLSA), the Ministry of Women and Child Development and Ministry of Home Affairs to tackle issues of child trafficking
- Village Level Child Protection Centres in various communities have been strengthened
- Child Friendly Police Stations and Child Assistance Booths at border districts in India have been established
- A training manual on para-legal volunteers has been developed in coordination with the SLSA
- To prevent cross border trafficking, training of Law Enforcement Personnels at border districts has been successfully completed
