Aizawl: The central committee of the Young Mizo Association (CYMA), the largest and most influential civil body in Mizoram, has constituted a study team to study and investigate Mizoram being used as human trafficking route by traffickers, YMA sources said on Tuesday.
A statement issued by the CYMA said that the meeting of Central Executive Committee (CEC) of the association held on Monday night constituted a five-member study team headed by the association general secretary Lalhmachhuana.
The study team will inquire and investigate a report about Mizoram being used by traffickers as human trafficking route, the statement said.
The study team convener Lalhmachhuana said they received a report that as many as 208 girls have been sent to South East Asian countries via Mizoram for flesh trade in recent years.
The YMA volunteers are coordinating with state police to curb such activity, he added.
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Sandwiched between Bangladesh and Myanmar with whom it shares more than 700-km long international boundaries, Mizoram is still vulnerable to human trafficking and is used as safe passage by human traffickers.
Recently the state police arrested one person for allegedly trafficking 23 girls from Nepal to be transported to South-East Asian countries.
The police also arrested eight Rohingya women suspected to be trapped by traffickers at Vairengte on the Mizoram-Assam border on April 23.
The CID (crime) branch of Mizoram police record said that at least 24 human trafficking cases have been registered under the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act since 2000, of which 22 were chargesheeted and one case still pending.
In 2018, a Rohingya Muslim from Myanmar was arrested at Vaiphai village in south Mizoram’s Champhai district for allegedly trafficking two innocent boys.
The actual number of human trafficking cases in the state could be higher since many cases went unrecorded, police said. Of the human trafficking cases, forced prostitution figured to be the highest, they said.
Meanwhile, the CYMA also mulled to construct common cemetery for residents of Aizawl.
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In its meeting held on Monday night, the CYMA constituted a six-member committee headed by the association assistant secretary Peter Chhakchhuak to study the feasibility of constructing common graveyard.
The mass based civil body also decided to organize awareness campaign on climate change across the state in collaboration with the state environment, forest and climate change department during May.
