Author: stopglobalmovement

Project Responsible Netism was established by Ahaan Foundation, who invited us for a two day online workshop on “Building Digital Rakshak” in the month of August, 2023. Two members from STOP, namely Smritikana Ghosh Paul and Narayani Bhattacharya, participated actively in this event. On the first day, introduction to cybercrime, especially sextortion against children, internet addiction, its psychological impacts, remedies, and how online games affect children and their guardians were deliberated upon. Numerous participants gave their inputs by pitching in incidents of cybercrime their children had faced, especially during Covid. On the second day, Cyber Laws, Psychological and Emotional assistances provided holistically for the affected child and his family, as well as technical tips to secure devices and platforms were discussed in detail. It ended with an activity where the audience gave their opinions on how to tackle myriad hypothetical cases on cybercrime against children.

On the occasion of celebrating the Human Anti-Trafficking Day, on Friday, 28th of July, 2023, a large conclave of women volunteers was held at Tughlakabad by STOP (R.B.C.T.). About 300 women and girls participated in the conclave. 

A leading social activist, Sh. Amitava Bhattacharyya, former CIC, and a retired Senior IAS officer, while initiating the discussion, mentioned that human trafficking:

1. Is the 3rd most internationally recognized organized criminal activity in the world

2. Comes after drugs and illegal weapons trade. 

2. Various initiatives by government and civil society organizations have been initiated without any appreciable result. 

3. A report to the parliament by the gov a few days ago stated that in a span of two years, i.e. 2020-22, about 7 lakh women and children were missing. 

This is a serious social ill; not just the government and civil society organizations, but the people, especially the parents, should be aware of the various dimensions of this problem.

The other activists, namely Smritikana Ghosh Paul, Janki Gadhvi, Poonam Choudhary, Narayani Bhattacharya, and Mahima Rao spoke on this occasion. The role of the community as first responders and the need for establishing a close link between the NGO, i.e. stop and our Mahila Mandals and vigilantes, was stressed again and again, so that any incidence of missing women and children can be detected and reported in the very first instance itself.

STOP’s Tigri Community organized a line of events throughout the 21st of May, in celebration of the International Yoga Day. The students as well as their mothers were trained in basic breathing exercises and flexing the body muscles. Eager faces and excited hearts joined together to make it an eventful day!

Two staff members of STOP, namely Mamta Gopal and Narayani Bhattacharya, were invited to participate in the latest SPUWAC (Special Police Unit for Women And Children) meeting held on the 15th of June, 2023. The DCP and ACP, along with many other prominent NGO’s were physically present during the meeting. We gave a short presentation on our NGO, its activities, operations, latest workshops, and the reason for which we had gathered in the august meeting. Both the ambience and the audience were quite welcoming. We sincerely hope that this meeting becomes fruitful in the near future.

STOP and ECPAT International together arranged a meeting on the 25^th of April, 2023 on the launch study meeting of “Global Boys Initiative: Sexual Exploitation of Boys: India Report”, at Hotel Holiday Inn, Aerocity. The event was divided into three phases, wherein the first was introducing the study, second involved the panellists to shed light on the topic from various viewpoints, and the third was dedicated to create an Action Plan prepared through recommendations given by the participants as well as the panellists. Panellists and participants from all over the nation came to participate and give their valuable inputs as to how to prevent the sexual exploitation of boys. We hope that the meeting turns out to be successful in reaching its desired goal.

STOP NGO held two Capacity-Building Workshops on the Prevention of Human Trafficking in the Manali and Solan regions of Himachal Pradesh on 13^th and 15^th of March 2023, respectively. In both the regions, the sessions began with the introduction of our STOP NGO, its history and journey, and the basic objective of the workshop, followed by the detailed explanation of the laws related to trafficking, child marriage, juvenile justice, etc., and a group discussion, ending with the written and verbal feedbacks of the respondents. The report is available in the Reports Section of this website.

On March 17^th, 2023, STOP organized a Community Awareness Programme in Aadarsh Senior Citizen Association, Tigri. An audience of about three hundred women, men and children were welcomed by our members of STOP. Dirk Sir, hailing from Holland and engaged in several social welfare activities, was invited as the special guest lecturer. The workshop commenced at three in the noon, with an introduction of both the topic, as well as panellists, by our Senior Project manager, Janki Gadhvi. Smritikana Ghosh Paul, our Senior Programme Manager, discussed about the various types, processes, ways and means of trafficking, and its spread in the global scenario being discussed in depth, with live interactions from the audience. The participants were as eager to gain knowledge about prevention against human trafficking, as were STOP’s members, to create awareness of this heinous crime, in them.

STOP had been invited to be a part of the Panel Discussions on Gender-Based Violence scheduled on Thursday, 16^th of March, 2023. The panelists were namely Smriti Shah Gambhir (Psychologist), Inspector Saroj Singh from Delhi Police, Aparna Bhat (lawyer and policy-developer), Gayatri Sharma from Women Power Connect, and Janki Gadhvi from STOP, respectively. The session was held in two phases; in the initial phase, panelists were introduced and each talked for about five minutes each. The talks included the resources each could provide, from giving courage, medico-legal aid and counselling, to filing an FIR and fighting in the court, remotely as well as physically. They especially focused on foreign nationals as victims and the international and national laws pertaining to giving them justice in the Indian courts. The second phase included interesting questions revolving around the victim’s consent to conduct an invasive medical examination, as well as how to deal with each specific case, using an ideal mix of non-verbal gestures and friendly verbal communication, at psychological, physical, medical, legal levels, with constant assistance from civil bodies like STOP NGO. The session concluded with a vote of thanks from High Commission of Canada, and a promise to save and assist as many victims as possible, without discriminating on the basis of gender, region, economic status and nationality.