Gender-based violence: Meeting discusses optimizing screening

CHENNAI: FXB India Suraksha in partnership with The Asia Foundation convened a regional sharing meeting in Delhi recently to discuss optimizing screening and support services for Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and Trafficking in Persons (TIP) victims.
The meeting brought together stakeholders engaged in the forefront of screening and service delivery, including law enforcement, government institutions, civil society partners, survivor networks, and subject experts.
The Asia Foundation, with support from the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (J/TIP), United States Department of State conducted a multi-country qualitative research study to help inform and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of screening and service provision to victims of TIP and GBV in diverse contexts in three target countries India, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
The programme partnered with FXB India Suraksha in India, Centre for Policy Analysis in Sri Lanka, and Social Science Baha in Nepal, to conduct the country-specific research.
The study provides an analysis of the screening and identification services in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka, and explores the relevance and opportunity of integrating services for victims of GBV and TIP. It highlights the gaps in the screening process for victim identification and the resultant mismatch in service delivery and includes recommendations and tools to help improve screening and identification of victims of trafficking in persons.
Satya Prakash, chief operating officer of FXB India Suraksha, India said, “The study is a breakthrough in space of GBV and TIP intersectionality. We realised most victims suffered GBV which made them vulnerable to trafficking and hence researches like the one we undertook that focus on screening, become very important in making the overall process much more effective. Effective screening can help stringent conviction of the perpetrator and identification of correct services required for rehabilitation of the victim.”
It highlights some key recommendations which could be implemented to improve screening and identification of victims amidst rising incidents in the country. This includes:
~ Improve understanding of the link between TIP and GBV among frontline responders: The inability to identify, associate and respond to a wider spectrum of GBV in trafficking cases as a push factor and as a direct outcome of trafficking impacts appropriate victim centric response. It leads to many highly vulnerable and at-risk cases remaining unidentified; limits the ambit of legal redressal to identified TIP cases as they fail to legally register and address the incidence of GBV outside of TIP, and it undermines the rehabilitation and reintegration process by not addresses the core push factor of GBV
~ Mapping vulnerable areas and hotspots for human trafficking: The mapping would help identify existing vulnerable areas, acutely vulnerable areas, and potentially vulnerable areas and inform focused strategies for the prevention of trafficking.
~ Formulating standard guidelines and protocols: Study recommends central/state governments/Bureau of Police Research and Development in collaboration with other stakeholders should formulate standardized guidelines and protocols for the police for efficient screening and identification of trafficking victims of TIP.
~ Strengthen law enforcement responses through training and capacity building: Training by the State Police Training Academies to create a holistic conceptual understanding of TIP and GBV and their intersections to improve victim identification.
~ Build awareness among communities: NGOs in collaboration with the government should take up sensitization on human trafficking within communities and the public, especially highlighting the modus operandi of traffickers, to enable enhanced reporting of TIP cases. The involvement of village leaders/ panchayats and religious leaders as first responders for strong community-based monitoring to be considered for preventing TIP at the village level.