India: report shows eleven children kidnapped every hour

In India, eleven children disappear every hour, according to a new report presented in the capital New Delhi this week by the NGO Bachpan Bachao Andolan.

Between 2008 and 2010, the organisation received complaints from parents of 117,480 children who had gone missing, mostly from Mumbai, Calcutta and New Delhi, where they were sold to rich families as domestics, industrial slaves and sex slaves, or to organizations that handle begging.

The increase in the standard of living of many people in Indian cities has led to a demand for 'little slaves' for housework. The phenomenon is particularly serious in the Indian capital, where 1,442 children disappeared in 2011.

The charities works to find missing children and reunite them with their families, but says it has met with hostility from the community and agencies involved in the sale or hire of young children.

The NGO also works to liberate of child workers exploited in craft factories in New Delhi. For more information see: www.bba.org.in/

Source: Fides