Assam police on Friday said that combating human trafficking was one of its top priorities.

Director-general of police Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta said, “Combating human trafficking is one of our priority areas. We are taking adequate initiatives to prevent trafficking, rescue the victims, prosecute the criminals and reunite the victims with their families.”

Mahanta was speaking at a workshop organised by the US Consulate Calcutta and NGO Shakti Vahini here to empower youths to prevent human trafficking.

“Let us come together to wipe out the blot of human trafficking from the face of humanity,” said Surendra Kumar, inspector-general, CID, Assam police.

Global estimates indicate that about 24.9 million people, adults and children, are victims of human trafficking.

The director of American Center Calcutta, Monica Shie, said, “The US Consulate General Calcutta is committed to intensify efforts to end human trafficking through year-round, multilateral approach that supports the coordination of anti-trafficking efforts through meaningful engagement with local governments, law enforcement, judiciary, civil society, the private sector and trafficking survivors.”

Shakti Vahini founder Ravi Kant said, “Human trafficking is an organised crime and, over the years, it has grown in dimensions. The missing children data, as reported by the National Crime Records Bureau, is an indicator of the magnitude of the problem. It is important to make our children and youths aware of this problem, of the designs of traffickers and the various support mechanisms available.”

US Consulate General Calcutta and Shakti Vahini have launched a series of anti-trafficking workshops — From One to Many — Ignite the Force — to empower youths to combat human trafficking and facilitate inter and intra-state collaboration in three cities — Guwahati, Patna and Ranchi.

The project aims at empowering youths to lead prevention campaigns such as Swayamsiddha campaign in Bengal that has forged a multi-stakeholder collaboration to empower schoolgirls.