New Delhi, Feb 26: The 26th of February, 2021, Friday proved to be a historical day with the launch of India’s first National Resource Center on Human Trafficking (NRCHT) at the Rashtriya Raksha University (RRU). In furtherance of the MoU signed between the Indian Police Foundation (IPF) and this Institution of National Importance, RRU. Calling for collective solidarity against human trafficking, the NRCHT aims to stand as the central resource base of real time facts and figures about anti human trafficking activities across India.

Dr. S. L. Vaya, Director of the School of Criminology, Crime Science and Behavioral Science (SCCBS), RRU, welcomed the distinguished guests and enthusiastic participants for the inauguration. This was followed by the signing of MoU to finalise the commitment to combat and prevent human trafficking in India.

The principal thought leader behind the NRCHT, Dr. P. M. Nair, Chairperson of the Center of Excellence and Center of Research (CORAL) on Human Trafficking of the IPF enumerated the proposed vision and mission of the Center and mentioned the relevance of micro-researches in furthering advocacy and policy initiatives, besides developing an all India TIP Report.

Prof. (Dr.) Bimal N. Patel, VC, RRU was the Chief Guest of the event who offered a detailed guideline about how the TREE structure of RRU can be incorporated into the action plan set for the NRCHT so as to best achieve its objectives in designing and ensuring strategic, data-driven interventions in the field of anti-human trafficking activities in the country.

The Chairman of IPF, Sh. Prakash Singh, and the Founder and President of IPF Sh. N. Ramachandran laid great emphasis on acknowledging and amplifying the good work being done in the field across Indian states, and looking for ground-level solutions beyond the codified statutes.

Distinguished stakeholders, including Smt. Sunitha Krishnan, Sh. Mahesh Bhagat and Sh. Anil Pratham, contributed immensely to setting the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for the Center’s objectives through their valuable inputs. They do envision the NRCHT as one convergent space that helps implement judgements and guidelines for the prevention and prosecution of human trafficking related incidents, and publish a TIP report as a booklet of possibilities and not a record of despair.

The inauguration was followed by a special training programme on “Human Trafficking post COVID and Responses” by Dr. P. M. Nair himself. The inauguration was attended by key stakeholders, faculty members, research scholars and students of RRU.