Rakesh lived a life of a slave along with some other children for five long years. They used to stay in a cow shed and work up to 18 hours everyday. To ensure that they worked longer hours, they were given a drug to keep them awake. Finally, Bachpan Bachao Andolan rescued Rakesh and the other children in 2006. Rakesh says: "I cried a lot and missed my mother everyday. I lost any hope of even meeting her. But when I saw her, I could not even communicate with her as I had forgotten Maithili, and she couldn't understand my new language that was Punjabi." 

South Asian March Against Child Trafficking is the first ever and the largest social intervention to challenge the crime of human trafficking- the third largest illicit trade with revenues up to 32 billion USD every year. Conservative estimates put that 5000-7000 children are trafficked from Nepal to India every year. But if we count the intra-state trafficking, the figures would be in hundreds of thousands. 

At the official launch Kailash Satyarthi, Chairperson Global March Against Child Labour and founder, Bachpan Bachao Andolan said, “The objectives of the march are to build a mass movement against child trafficking highlighting the neglected area of trafficking for forced labour. Secondly, to demand for urgent legal measures and a comprehensive policy for repatriation and rehabilitation for victims and prosecution and conviction of the traffickers.” 

Ms Nandita Das, film actress and a leading social activist, working for the rights of women and children said “trafficking of children for forced labour is a hidden issue, with the people in the rural areas still being ignorant and thus being vulnerable to being trafficked for forced labour. There is no regional protocol to prohibit the trafficking of children for forced labour and further provide protection and assistance to these victims. I therefore support BBA in its noble endeavor to combat child trafficking by highlighting the plight of these young victims through the march and thereby making the government answerable and people aware”.    

The march, spanning 2,500 km and 20-25 days with 100 core marchers (half of them being former victims of bonded labour and trafficking), would start from Kolkata, cross Siliguri, Araria, Betiah, Gorakhpur, Nepalganj, Nithari and reach Delhi on 22 March 2007. Thousands of people will join the march everyday in the mass meetings, public hearings and other various cultural programmes by local people. Professional theatre groups, local folk music and tribal music groups would lend their support through song, dance and theatrical performances to sensitise the Indian sub continent against this fast growing crime. Approximately 10 lakh people would be reached and sensitized 2 lakh people will be reached directly. This innovative march will also see massive support from celebrities, politicians and important personalities who will march in sync with the children at different places of the march.

A large number of organizations are supporting the march including UN agencies like UNIFEM, UNODC, UNIFEM, among others. In Bengal the march has received outstanding support from the civil society and NGOs like ATSEC, Sanlaap, Apne Aap Women Worldwide and others. 

Manabendra Mandal Chairperson, ATSEC South Asia said “Trafficking is a crime against humanity, be it for commercial sexual exploitation, human organ transplantation, child labour, or for slavery like practices. Let us all join our hands together to combat against this organised crime”.