UJJWALA SCHEME

Ujjwala is a comprehensive scheme that was launched in 2007 for prevention of trafficking and rescue, rehabilitation and reintegration of victims of trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation 

What is human trafficking?
Human trafficking is the illegal trade of human beings mainly for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation or forced labour. These are mainly divided as:

Bonded labour - Victims become bonded labourers when their labour is demanded as a means of repayment for a loan or service in which its terms and conditions have not been defined or in which the value of the victims’ services as reasonably assessed is not applied toward the liquidation of the debt. The value of their work is greater than the original sum of money "borrowed." 

Forced labour is a situation in which victims are forced to work against their own will, under the threat of violence or some other form of punishment, their freedom is restricted and a degree of ownership is exerted. Forms of forced labour can include domestic servitude; agricultural labour; sweatshop factory labour; janitorial, food service and other service industry labour; and begging.

Sex trafficking victims are generally found in dire circumstances and easily targeted by traffickers. Individuals, circumstances, and situations vulnerable to traffickers include homeless individuals, runaway teens, displaced homemakers, refugees, job seekers, tourists, kidnap victims and drug addicts. While it may seem like trafficked people are the most vulnerable and powerless minorities in a region, victims are consistently exploited from any ethnic and social background.

What are the objectives of the scheme?
a) To prevent trafficking of women and children for commercial sexual exploitation through social mobilization and involvement of local communities, awareness generation programmes, generate public discourse through workshops/seminars and such events and any other innovative activity.

b) To facilitate rescue of victims from the place of their exploitation and place them in safe custody.

c) To provide rehabilitation services both immediate and long-term to the victims by providing basic amenities/needs such as shelter, food, clothing, medical treatment including counselling, legal aid and guidance and vocational training.

d) To facilitate reintegration of the victims into the family and society at large.

e) To facilitate repatriation of cross-border victims to their country of origin.

What are the components of the scheme?
The Scheme shall have the following main components: 

a) Prevention – This component includes:

•  Formation and functioning of Community Vigilance Groups.

• Formation and functioning of Balika (adolescent girls)/Balala (adolescent children) Sanghas.

• Sensitization Workshops/Seminars for generating awareness among the masses related to the legal help available for the people in distress.

• Awareness generation through mass media including kalajathas, street plays, pupettery or through any other art forms, preferably traditional.

• Development and printing of awareness generation material such as pamphlets, leaflets and posters (in local language).

b) Rescue - This component includes:

•  Making provisions for the Information gathering through formation of network of Police, NGOs, Women’s Groups, Youth Groups, Panchayats, Hotels and tour operators etc., to gather information on traffickers, suspicious people and vulnerable families.

• The scheme would provide for— Incentives to decoy customers/informers; Transportation cost of victim(s) from place of rescue to shelter home;

• The scheme will provide food, shelter, toiletries, clothing, trauma care/counseling, medical aid etc. during the interim period between rescue and production before the concerned authorities.

c) Rehabilitation – This component includes:

•  Setting up of Protective and Rehabilitative (P&R) Home.

• To provide basic amenities such food, clothing and other items of personal use.

• To provide Doctor’s fee, cost of medicines, hospitalization, appropriate linkages to de -addiction centers. Since the victims of trafficking undergo immense psychological trauma, professional counseling services would be provided through a qualified clinical psychologist and psychiatrist.

• As victims are the main witnesses against the trafficker/pimp/perpetrator, or to claim their right to property, marital rights, divorce, maintenance and custody of children, they will be provided with legal aid which would include court work and documentation relating to the victims court case.

• Education to the rescued children will be provided under the scheme. As a large proportion of the rescued victims are children, they will need to be inducted into the formal or open school system, for which some expenditure on text-books, notebooks, stationary, school uniform and other incidental expenses may have to be incurred.

•  Further in order to completely rehabilitate the victim it is necessary to provide alternate livelihood options. Therefore, support for vocational training is also provided.

d) Re-integration - This component involves:

• Restoring the victim to their family and community by formation of half-way homes. Half-Way Home is a Home within the community, where a group of victims, ready for reintegration, live and work out of this place. This is to facilitate smooth transition from the life in P&R Home to an independent living in the community. A Half-Way Home is for a group of victims who are gainfully employed and can live semi-independently with minimum supervision. This is a phased approach to re-integration into the community.

e) Repatriation – 

• Repatriation is applicable to cross border victims of commercial sexual exploitation. 

• The scheme would provide for expenses incurred in fulfilling various formalities for obtaining repatriation order for the victim.

• It includes the setting up of transit points at border checkpoints to provide food and other incidentals to the victim.