Nepal, India alarmed by children trafficked to Britain

NEW DELHI/KATHMANDU: Nepal and India expressed alarm on Tuesday over a report that children as young as 10 from both countries are being sold as domestic slaves to rich families in the UK for 500,000 rupees ($7,525) each.

An investigation by The Sun newspaper suggested that gangs operating in the north Indian state of Punjab are preying on destitute Indian children, as well as Nepali children who migrated to India after earthquakes hit their country last year.

The article published on Monday prompted British Home Secretary Theresa May to call for a police investigation into the allegations of child trafficking - "a truly abhorrent crime" - and action against perpetrators.

Government officials in Nepal and India said they are aware human trafficking is common, especially after natural disasters, but were surprised victims are being sent as far away as the UK.

"We have already instructed police to investigate this. This is very serious," Yadav Koirala, spokesman for Nepal’s Home Ministry, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation."

We have no proof now. If any proof is found out during investigation, we will bring those involved it the crime to justice. There is no question of leaving them without punishment.

"An official from India’s home ministry said the government was trying to tackle the "menace" of human trafficking "with all seriousness".

"It is a known fact that children from poor families are trafficked from states such as Bihar and Uttar Pradesh bordering Nepal. The last devastating earthquake in Nepal has added to this problem," said the official, who did not want to be named.

He said cases of human trafficking were possible in Punjab where drug trafficking is a problem, and that the same gangs could be involved in buying and selling children as well.

The Sun’s investigation was carried out by an undercover reporter posing as a wealthy British-Indian visiting the city of Jalandhar, looking for a child worker to take back to the UK.

It quotes a trader called Makkhan Singh, who had lined up three children for the reporter to choose from, claiming he had supplied mostly Nepali boys to rich families in England.

"Take a Nepalese to England. They are good people. They are good at doing all the housework and they’re very good cooks. No one is going to come after you," he was quoted as saying.

"India is flooded with boys. Nepal has been destroyed and all the Nepalese are here.

We go to the poor parents, we talk to them, we do a deal," he added.