UJJAWALA: A Comprehensive Scheme for Prevention of trafficking and Rescue, Rehabilitation and Re-integration of Victims of Trafficking and Commercial Sexual Exploitation

The Ujjawala scheme was launched in 2007 to put an end to the trafficking of children and women. The scheme aims to prevent, rescue, rehabilitate, reintegrate, and repatriate victims trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation. The main objectives of the scheme are multifold. Firstly, to prevent trafficking of women and children for commercial sexual exploitation through social mobilization and involvement of local communities, awareness generation programmes, generate public discourse through workshops/seminars and such events and any other innovative activity. Secondly, to facilitate rescue of victims from the place of their exploitation and place them in safe custody. Thirdly, to provide rehabilitation services both immediate and long-term to the victims by providing basic amenities/needs such as shelter, food, clothing, medical treatment including counselling, legal aid and guidance and vocational training. Fourthly, to facilitate reintegration of the victims into the family and society at large, to facilitate repatriation of cross-border victims to their country of origin. As a large proportion of the rescued victims are children, they will need to be inducted in to the formal or open school system, for which some expenditure on text-books, notebooks, stationary, school uniform and other incidental expenses may have to be incurred. Support for vocational training is also provided.