The Team Rescuing Children Aboard India’s Railways (The Guardian, nov.27, 2018)


Half a million passengers pass through the Old Delhi railway station every day. This includes children who are being trafficked, shuttled across the city and the country as they are sold off for forced labor or sexual exploitation. Yet a team from Childline India Foundation have made it their mission to rescue these children, using tips to intercept traffickers and help trafficked children passing through the rail station. They estimate that they rescue 90-100 children each month.Success has come from a pioneering collaboration between Childline Foundation – set up under the auspices of the Ministry for Women and Child Development – and Indian Railways. Aiming to rescue children in transit, they train railway staff to detect when something is amiss, and have posted 200,000 posters on trains and platforms for the public to report cases to the Childline Helpline. The railways even added the number to labels on packaged water bottles and disposable tea cups.