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tv   Our World  BBC News  May 9, 2020 9:30pm-10:00pm BST

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and the pioneer of rock ‘n' roll, little richard dies at the age of 87. now on bbc news, in india a child goes missing every eight minutes. the children are often trafficked into domestic labour or the sex trade — many are never seen again. a warning this programme does include details some viewers may find upsetting this is what it feels like when your child disappears. in india, a nationwide trade is separating children from theirfamilies. every eight minutes, a child goes
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missing in this country, and they are often trafficked. thousands of children, robbed of their innocence. we uncover a complex child trafficking network in india, and ask, how can this be happening? midday in a suburb of north—west delhi. and we are on a raid. searching forjust some
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of the ten million children in forced labour in india. we have had a tip off that dozens of kids are working in bakeries here. we have been told that some children already escaped from one of the premises, but we have got to leave for another place, so we are just going there now. this operation is being led by a child protection agency who rescue thousands of children from slavery every year, working alongside the police. after 20 minutes, the first children emerge. one of them is a 15—year—old boy who we're calling ahmed. ahmed's been doing 18 hour days in one of the bakeries here,
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and he has been working in factories like these since he was just 12. after two hours, 16 young boys have been rescued. but thousands of others in child slavery in india aren't as fortunate. in my time covering this country, one shocking figure stuck in my mind. every year in india, around 70,000 children are reported missing. it's thought the actual number is higher, as many cases aren't registered. young lives lost and never found. almost every time i pick up a newspaper in india,
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i find an ad for a missing child. the problem is staring this country in the face but there is very little public outrage. i've been investigating the networks behind this huge trafficking industry and meeting the children it exploits into the sex trade, domestic slavery and, like ahmed who we saw freed in the raid, into child labour. ahmed and the other boys are being taken to a rehabilitation centre just outside delhi. here, they are given an education and a fresh start. ahmed was sent to work thousands of miles from home after a trafficker promised his parents he'd give him a better life.
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how did you get through every single day? and how did your boss treat you? ahmed was rescued by arshad mehdi, who has been fighting child slavery and traffickers for decades, but the task isn't getting any easier.
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this is jharkhand, 1000 kilometres east of delhi. the majority of child trafficking victims come from the poorest, most remote part of the country like here. poonam toppo has dedicated her life to fighting india's child trade.
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there is no work? no work. in this region, child abduction has become a painful part of everyday life. poonam has brought us to jarro, a village ofjust 20 families, where 14 children are currently missing. she knows many of the parents.
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so, everyone in this village pretty much knows of someone who has gone missing? the family members themselves are sometimes involved when a child initially goes missing. amrita, not her real name, was traded by traffickers at the age of nine to a family she had never met. herjob was to look after two
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children, aged five and three. for five years, amrita was treated like a slave. by the time she finally returned home, her mother had died. her childhood shaped by labour, not love.
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thanks to poonam's support launching a criminal investigation, amrita's uncle is now injail. but that's rare. fewer than i% of trafficking cases in india end with a conviction. despite attempts by the government to fight the trade, it's thriving. in a nearby village, we meet another family who fell prey to traffickers. munsi and suggi's daughter sunita was just 12 when a couple befriended the family, promising a better future for their child.
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after a month, munsi went to see how his daughter was getting on. it's been a decade since munsi and suggi have seen their daughter. how much do you miss her?
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and what might seem surprising is that munsi has, over the years, run into the couple who initially trafficked her. why didn't you go to the police? according to poonam, traffickers, like the couple who took sunita,
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can earn up to $300 per child. it's a well—organised multi—million—dollar system, luring children into slave labour and prostitution. but the traffickers are just middlemen with no control over what happens next.
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those affected by trafficking often don't have a voice. they‘ re from poor tribal communities where they feel powerless. poonam often talks to young girls in villages to encourage them to speak up. this group is where she first heard about sunita's case. it's a safe place to share stories. most of these girls know others who have been trafficked and they started a campaign wanting young people of the dangers.
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but as poonam and others try to fight this crime, they're faced with a new frontier — social media. i've come to meet a girl we're going to call seema. two years ago she began chatting to someone who randomly added her to a facebook group for teenagers. after a few months of messages he invited her to meet him in a city 100 kilometres away.
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at that point how did you feel? seema was held captive for more than two years. she was forced to marry her rapist by his mother, who also lived with them.
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and she gave birth to a boy. you were trapped in this house, i mean, did you think you would ever get any help? but seema did escape. one day, when the gate was left open, she ran for it.
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seema is now safely home with her family. she left her child behind with the father. sunita's father, munsi, has decided to take action. he and poonam are on the way to the police station.
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sunita had told herfather she was near delhi, but he had no money oi’ means to go and find her. do you think there's a good chance of finding her, sir? i will try, i will try.
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why does it take so long for people to come forwards? some children are able to find their families again. it's been a week since the raid releasing ahmed and the other boys and the shelter‘s arranged for his mother to come and collect him.
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but the reunion itself is awkward. it was ahmed's family who'd sent him away to work. living in poverty, they felt it was their only option. do you regret ever sending him away to work? what's the first thing you'll do when you both get home? it's hard to keep children like ahmed from being sent back to work. but the centre's ensured that his parents receive state support and has a stern warning
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for the future. ahmed's story has come to a happy ending — for now. police tried to track sunita down in delhi. they believe she may be working overseas for a family. as traffickers continue to exploit vulnerable families it's hard to see a way out of this trade. for the vast majority of india's missing children rescue remains a distant dream.
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hello, there. much of the past week has seen temperatures above average. temperatures on both friday and saturday, in the mid 20s. this was the picture in west sussex. blue skies, there. elsewhere, there were some fairly heavy showers and a thunderstorm around, too. but as we head through the next couple of days, things will reallyfeel very different. much colder conditions on the cards right across the british isles. so, the mild air that has been with us on saturday is getting squeezed away now towards the south and through the day on sunday we have got this cold air, piling in, and these northerly wind arrows. so it's not only a good deal
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colder, windier, too. so a real change in conditions on sunday. we have a band of cloud, quite an active cold front moving its way south. producing just a few rain showers. to the north of that, across north and eastern scotland, some wintry flurries, even some snow through relatively low levels for a time on sunday. some fairly strong, gusty winds. in fact, some of them could reach a0 or 45 mph. blustery particularly down the east coast and through the english channel. so, temperatures around six or 9 degrees around the east coast on sunday. the warmest of the weather will be down towards the south—west, where we still have the teens. but monday morning is likely to start on quite a cold and, for some of us, frosty note. so, gardeners and growers beware. there could be a touch of frost first thing monday morning. so, another fairly chilly feeling day on monday. quite a bit of cloud in northern and eastern parts of the uk. the best of any sunshine across parts of northern ireland, wales and south—west england, too. temperatures up to about 30 degrees in the warmer spots. at many others, typically only around nine or 11 degrees. certainly below par for this stage in may. as we move through monday night and on into tuesday, high pressure still with us,
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setting out to the north—west of the uk. but we've still got the wind rotating around that area of high pressure. so, still coming in from a northerly direction during the day on tuesday. another cold, frosty start for some of us. we will lose that biting, chilly wind across the east coast. still a bit of a winter chill temperatures perhaps not as chilly as monday. many of us are back in double figures, about ten or 14 degrees for most of us. a little bit colder across the north of scotland, where you could see one of two showers. as we move through into the middle of the week, we still have high pressure very much in charge of our weather. so, a largely dry, settled theme as we head into wednesday. again, one or two showers across the far north of scotland. a bit more cloud once again around this east coast. still quite breezy for the likes of kent and essex, for instance. temperatures will be about 10 degrees or so around this east coast. it further inland, up to around 14, possibly 15 celsius. so, dry, settled. the isobars are tending to spread out as we head through the week. so, high—pressure start it towards the west through the day on thursday.
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things are once again looking dry. if you are hoping for some rainfall for your garden, there is not much of it on the cards, i'm afraid, through the coming week. so, thursday, dry and settled, with some sunshine on offer. more cloud building during the course of the day, those temperatures somewhere between nine or 15 degrees or so. brighter spells, and we are going to see clearer skies as well overnight. but, further ahead, we are looking at the end of this coming week in to the following weekend, we will start to see some mild air working in from the south—west. we've still got that high pressure in charge. there could be a few showers for a time across the far north of scotland, but, really, further ahead we are looking at high pressure holding on. just the chance that we could see low pressure in the south—west of europe are pushing a few showers into parts of southern england. generally, over the next ten days, things are looking mostly dry. frosty night at first, then things started to warm later on.
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