Sanjay Mishra with an official of the US Department of State. Telegraph picture

Ranchi, July 1: The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has placed India on top of the priority list to arrest human trafficking.

Sanjay Kumar Mishra, the state representative of Action Against Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation of Children (ATSEC), who was on a tour of the United States, said ILO has only been working for child labour.

“But it decided to work for anti-trafficking from this year and India is on their priority list,” said Mishra, quoting M. Rajuvant, the country representative of the ILO.

Mishra, during his visit to the US, which was organised by US Department of State, interacted with representatives of UN bodies, including Unicef, Unesco, UN Office of Drugs and Crime, ILO and others. Representatives of five other countries — Pakistan, Kazakistan, Jordan, Syria and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) — were also invited by the US Department of State for the programme.

Mishra, the only representative from India, has told the international community that the government here is “very serious” about human trafficking. He said he watched the anti-trafficking projects of the US government very closely.

“All government departments such as the police, judiciary, labour, welfare, health and individual volunteers make a concerted effort against trafficking. This could be imbibed by our government here,” Mishra said.

The tour had been organised from June 7 to June 28 with an aim to explore worldwide policy initiatives to prevent trafficking. Mishra said various meets with the officials of US and UN bodies also aimed at analysing the root cause of trafficking and the crucial policies and practices needed to prevent its proliferation.

According to the recent data brought out by the US, the share of India in international human trafficking is around 4.7 per cent.

The highest on the list is Russia with 12.3 per cent, followed by Vietnam (10 per cent), Somalia (7.6 per cent) and China and Mexico (5.2 per cent each). India and Philippines stand at 4.7 per cent.

In Jharkhand, the migration of tribal girls to big cities in search of a livelihood, is a form of human trafficking. According to a rough estimate by various non-government organisations, the number of such girls could touch 2.5 lakh.

Mishra said he would submit the report about his tour and what he learnt from it to the US consulate. The consulate would then send it to the US Department of State.