Number of Missing Children in India

              As per the data provided by National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB), on an average less than one lakh children went missing every year since 2011. The details of number of missing children and the number of cases in which the children have remained untraced for the period 2011-2014 and up to April, 2015 is as under:

Sl. No.	Year	Number of missing children	Number of untraced children
1.	2011	90654	34406
2.	2012	65038	26896
3.	2013	77721	41089
4.	2014	73549	31711
5.	2015 (up to April)	15988	6921

This information was given by the Union Minister of Women and Child Development, Smt Maneka Sanjay Gandhi in reply to an unstarred question in the Rajya Sabha today.

****

Decline in Child Sex Ratio in Tribal population 

 As per the Census 2011, the Child Sex Ratio (0-6 years) among Scheduled tribes population has shown a decline from 972 females per 1000 males in 2001 to 957 females per 1000 males in 2011. 

To address the issue of declining Child Sex Ratio (CSR), in age group of 0-6 years, Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao (BBBP) programme has been launched by Ministry of Women and Child Development. The Scheme is intended to improve Child Sex Ratio across the country with the focussed intervention & Multi-Sectoral Action in 100 gender critical districts including tribal areas. The total project cost of the programme for the 2 years and 6 months is Rs. 199.99 crore with 100% Central Assistance.

Ministry of Tribal Affairs through regional consultations and its meetings has advocated and supported growing and consumption of traditional minor millets, green leafy and traditional vegetable in kitchen garden, rearing backyard poultry, and fishery. In addition, the Ministry has advocated regular administering of Iron Folic Acid tablets and Vitamin A supplements to pregnant women right from their cycle. Documentation of tribal crops and food, tribal medicine and practices to improve health and nutrition issues has also been initiated.

This information was given by the Union Minister of Women and Child Development, Smt Maneka Sanjay Gandhi in reply to an unstarred question in the Rajya Sabha today.

****

Status of recommended amendments in Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 

The National Commission for Women (NCW) had recommended certain amendments in Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961. The major recommendations include:-

i) Amendment to definition of Dowry

ii) Provision for registration of lists of gifts received at the time of marriage.

iii) Provision for separate penalties for giving and taking of dowry.

iv) Penalties for non-maintenance of lists of gifts received at the time of the marriage.

v) Insertion of a new clause providing an opportunity to the woman to file a case at the place where the offence was committed or where she permanently/temporarily resides.

vi) Protection officers appointed under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 to carry out the duties of the Dowry Prohibition Officers.

In view of the recommendations of NCW, a proposal for amendment in Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 was mooted and draft Cabinet circulated on 14th February, 2013 to concerned Ministries/Department for comments. However, the Ministry has taken a considered view on the matter on 26th November, 2014 and decided to drop the amendment proposed in Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 in the present form after taking into account of the comments of the High Level Committee on the Status of Women and Ministry of Home Affairs on the matter received on 3rd November, 2014 and 18th November, 2014 respectively.

This information was given by the Union Minister of Women and Child Development, Smt Maneka Sanjay Gandhi in reply to a starred question in the Rajya Sabha today.

****

Substance Abuse by street children 

The Ministry of Women and Child Development has not made any estimate about the number of street children in the country. However, a rapid assessment survey of street- involved children carried out by Don Bosco National Forum for the Young at Risk (YaR), New Delhi and Don Bosco Research Centre, Mumbai has come to the notice of the Government of India. As per the aforesaid survey, the number of street- involved children in New Delhi is 69,976.

The Government is taking several measures to prevent substance abuse by children including services for rehabilitation of addicts.

Government of India is implementing the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003 which prohibits selling of tobacco products to person below the age of 18 years and in places within 100 metre radius from the outer boundary of an institution of education, which includes school colleges and institutions of higher learning established or recognized by an appropriate authority. Also the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substance Act, 1985 lays down that a controlled substance shall be sold after the buyer establishes his identity and upon a declaration made about the purpose for which the controlled substance is being purchased.

The Ministry of Women and Child Development is implementing a Centrally Sponsored Scheme, namely, Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS) from 2009-10 for children in difficult circumstances including children who are victims of substance abuse. Under ICPS, financial assistance is provided to State Governments/UT Administrations, inter-alia, for setting up and maintenance of various types of Homes, including, Shelter Homes, Open shelters etc. These Homes provide inter-alia, shelter, food, education, medical attention, vocational training, counseling, etc. to such children so that they can ultimately reintegrate into the mainstream society.

The Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment is implementing “Central Sector Scheme of Assistance for Prevention of Alcoholism and Substance (Drug) Abuse” which provides financial assistance to eligible Non-Governmental Organizations, Panchayati Raj Institutions, Urban Local Bodies etc. for running Integrated Rehabilitation Centres for Addicts (IRCAs) to provide composite/integrated services for the rehabilitation of addicts which is inclusive for all sections of the society.

This information was given by the Union Minister of Women and Child Development, Smt Maneka Sanjay Gandhi in reply to an unstarred question in the Rajya Sabha today. 

*****

Malnutrition among children under five years of age 

As per the last National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-3 (2005-06) carried out by Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Govt. of India, 42.5% of the children under 5 years of age are underweight. However, the provisional India Fact Sheet of the Rapid Survey on Children (RSoC) commissioned by Ministry of Women and Child Development with assistance from UNICEF India has been released. As per these figures, there is a reduction in underweight among children under 5 years of age from 42.5% in NFHS-3 to 29.4% as per RSoC.

As per NFHS-3, the latest nationally representative data, the prevalence of underweight in children under 5 years of age in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan is 37%, 42.4%, 55.9% and 39.9% respectively.

The Government has accorded high priority to the issue of malnutrition and is implementing several schemes/programmes of different Ministries/Departments through State Governments/UT Administrations. This Ministry is implementing Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme, Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Girls (RGSEAG) namely SABLA, and Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojna (IGMSY) as direct targeted interventions.

This information was given by the Union Minister of Women and Child Development, Smt Maneka Sanjay Gandhi in reply to an unstarred question in the Rajya Sabha today. 

Source: http://goo.gl/Sqqy0j

Trinity mount Ministries Website

Wales: New support for runaways in Dyfed-Powys Police force area

Children and young people who run away from home in mid and west Wales are to be given help under a new scheme.

The project in Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, Pembrokeshire and Powys will see homelessness charity Llamau interviewing and helping children who have been reported missing.

In 2014 there were more than 1,000 reports of missing children with many running away more than once.

The new scheme has been commissioned by Dyfed-Powys Police.

The aim is to identify trends in situations which prompt young people to run away, pinpoint risks during their time away and study the places they go.

In 2014, Dyfed-Powys Police received 1,038 missing reports for 520 children and young people aged under 18.

Missing children reports in 2014

• Carmarthenshire 344
• Ceredigion 148
• Pembrokeshire 259
• Powys 287

Of these, 365 went missing once; 114 two to four times and 25 five to seven times.

There were 16 young people who fled home more than seven times.

Police and Crime Commissioner Christopher Salmon said: "There are many reasons why young people flee their homes, including sexual exploitation.

"We've seen the terrible effects of neglect and official inaction in Yorkshire and Oxford. I want us to tackle the causes to make sure children here are safe from harm."

The service is expected to cost £80,000 to run between July 2015 and March 2018.

Charity Llamau is experienced in helping vulnerable young people

Source: http://goo.gl/rdf3vG

Trinity Mount Ministries Website

Seoul police, Facebook sign agreement for missing-child alert:

SEOUL, July 22 (Yonhap) -- Police said Wednesday they have signed an agreement with the social network service Facebook to help find missing children through emergency alerts.

It makes South Korea the fourth country to launch missing-child alerts with Facebook after the United States, Canada and the Netherlands.

Under the agreement, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency (SMPA) will send alerts, including detailed information on the missing child as well an outline of the incident, to the news feed of Facebook users who are near where the child was last seen.

Previously, when a missing incident occurred, the police would issue an alert on its own messaging application and spread the information to public institutions such as the media, banks and hospitals.

As there are nearly 14 million Facebook users in South Korea, the police are expecting more reports from citizens.

In the U.S., an 11-year-old child was found with the help of the alerts in April.

An alert will be issued when a child without a record of running away disappears, under the consent of a guardian.

The new alert system will take effect from Wednesday.

Source: http://goo.gl/uaCdbO

Trinity Mount Ministries Website

International Law Enforcement Academy in Budapest celebrates two decades.

FBI Special Agent John Terpinas, director of the International Law Enforcement Training Academy (ILEA) in Budapest, Hungary, speaks at a July 17, 2015 event there celebrating the organization’s 20th anniversary and the graduation of its 100th core class.

American law enforcement celebrated a milestone today in Budapest, Hungary: the 20th anniversary of an international training program whose success continues to prove that despite diverse cultures, politics, and religions, police officers everywhere share many more similarities than differences.

The FBI was instrumental in establishing the International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA) in Budapest in 1995, and since that time, instructors from a variety of U.S. federal agencies have provided expert training to more than 21,000 law enforcement officers from more than 85 countries. Just as importantly, the program encourages officers of different nationalities to build lasting professional relationships to better fight crimes that increasingly spill across borders. The concept has worked so well that other ILEAs—all funded and run by the U.S. Department of State—have been opened in Thailand, Botswana, El Salvador, and America.

“It’s one of the program’s biggest strengths,” said FBI Special Agent John Terpinas, director of ILEA Budapest. “Beyond the classroom instruction, we help to build relationships, and those relationships—that ILEA network—have opened a lot of doors over the last 20 years that might otherwise have been closed.”

“From the perspective of the U.S. government and particularly the FBI, I can’t emphasize enough how important ILEA is for the entire international law enforcement community,” noted Robert Anderson, Jr., executive assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal, Cyber, Response, and Services Branch. Anderson was on hand at events in Budapest to celebrate the anniversary, along with foreign dignitaries and U.S. Ambassador to Hungary Colleen Bell.

Also in attendance was former FBI Director Louis Freeh, who in 1994—only a few years after the fall of the Berlin Wall—led a U.S. delegation to meet with representatives from 11 nations in Russia, Eastern Europe, and Central Europe. The mission was to determine if new joint programs with these emerging democracies could be created to fight the growing threat of transnational crime.

The former Soviet countries had little experience with Western methods of policing and operating a criminal justice system under the rule of law, and they asked Freeh for FBI training.

“Many newly appointed police chiefs were democratically minded but had little previous police experience and no experience in Western law enforcement leadership and methodology,” said Miles Burden, a retired FBI special agent and former ILEA director who was on the 1994 trip. “They had no experience in things as basic as serving a warrant. You couldn’t wave a magic wand and change that without extensive training.”

A little more than a year later, ILEA Budapest was offering instruction to its first class, and in the spring of 1996, Freeh was there for the first graduation ceremony. “The reasons for the academy’s success are apparent to anyone who looks in realistic ways at the world around us,” he said at the time. “Crime of all kinds has grown to alarming levels on an international scale. No country by itself, no matter how strong it may be, can face all of this crime alone and hope to succeed.”

While most of the Eastern European countries that participate in ILEA Budapest today are no longer emerging democracies, the need for joint training and partnerships is as important as ever.

“ILEA is more relevant now in the world that we live, particularly with law enforcement challenges, than when it was established 20 years ago,” Freeh said this week, adding that he was “extremely proud” of what the program has accomplished and the dividends it is paying. Early ILEA participants, for example, have now assumed leadership roles in their organizations.

ILEA Budapest students who speak different languages wear headsets and receive simultaneous translations.

“Some of our students have risen all the way to the ministerial level in their governments,” Terpinas explained. “We hope that their ILEA experience will help them influence their government’s policy and decision making toward good governance and shared values that promote democracy.”

ILEA Budapest owes much of its success to the Hungarian government that hosts the academy and the Hungarian staff who take care of the day-to-day operations—tending to students who speak different languages and may have never traveled across their own border or met an American law enforcement officer before.

“We are really lucky here in ILEA Budapest because we have an outstanding relationship with our Hungarian partners,” Terpinas said. “The staff here is spectacular. Some have been here since the day the door opened.”

Police Colonel István Farkas, who oversees the Hungarian staff at ILEA Budapest, explained that the Americans who serve as director and deputy director of the academy usually rotate every three years, while the Hungarian staff remains constant. “What makes this academy function at high quality is that its staff has been almost the same during the course of all these years,” Farkas said through an interpreter.

Farkas, who has been a senior leader at ILEA Budapest for 16 years, added that the U.S. government takes the international training program very seriously. “The American law enforcement professionals are not conducting a marketing activity here,” he said. “What they do is they transfer true knowledge.”

ILEA’s core course of instruction—based on the FBI’s National Academy program for U.S. law enforcement personnel—is a seven-week program with blocks of instruction in various disciplines. Each class consists of about 50 mid-career officers from three or four different countries.

FBI instructors teach blocks on public corruption, counterterrorism, and tactics, while the U.S. Secret Service teaches about counterfeiting, and the Drug Enforcement Agency teaches about drug trafficking. “Everybody comes and teaches their expertise,” Terpinas said. The instructors are among U.S. law enforcement’s most experienced members.

In addition to the classroom and tactical instruction, students are encouraged to exercise and are required to participate in a variety of team-building activities—which help them form bonds intended to last a lifetime.

Located in a Ministry of Interior facility consisting of historic buildings that have been refurbished with state of the art equipment, ILEA Budapest overcomes the language barrier for students through the use of seasoned interpreters.

“Our classrooms are like a mini United Nations,” Terpinas said. “The students are all wearing headsets, and we can translate up to four languages simultaneously. So the instruction is in English, the materials that the students are looking at on their laptops are in their language, and then they are receiving the instruction, simultaneously, in their language from our interpreters.”

János Wodala, a longtime ILEA interpreter, likened his role to a soccer referee. “If it’s a good game,” he said, “you don’t even notice that the referee is on the field. So if interpretation goes well, and if it goes smoothly, you don’t even notice that there’s an interpreter.”

Máté Németh, a Hungarian police detective who was part of the 100th core class that graduated today to coincide with the 20th anniversary, spent the past seven weeks with fellow Hungarian officers and classmates from Macedonia and Bulgaria. Prior to his ILEA experience, he had never encountered police officers from those countries.

“I never met Macedonians or Bulgarians,” he said, “not on the professional level. So it was a really good time to get to know some colleagues from the surrounding and neighboring countries.” He added, “The biggest point of the whole ILEA is networking—getting to know these people. Because the criminals don’t stop at our borders, so we shouldn’t stop there either.”

Source: https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2015/july/ileas-20th-anniversary

Trinity Mount Ministries Website 

Advocates say children are often victims of human trafficking:

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Hundreds even thousands of children being sold into human trafficking businesses that spread across the state.

A judge remanded two defendants of a federal child sex trafficking indictment without bail, Friday.

Experts say many of the posts, on websites like backpage and craigslist, involve victims of human trafficking.

"Children will try to tell someone...seven, eight ten times," Sherry Kitchens says.

The director of the Child Advocacy Center Sherry Kitchens says an open ear could bring a child trafficking victim to safety.

"Some situations just ask them - you know - has anyone ever tried to give you something to have sex. or to do a sexual act. money, clothes, hair nails, a place to stay, drugs whatever it is."

The answer, Kitchens believes, may surprise you.

"I think the answer, if we really ask those questions, will be yes to more than we realize."

In the past month, Gainesville residents Michael Hayes, Ranell Carter, Jr. and Tawanda Burkett all arrested for pimping out the same 15-year-old victim.

Kitchens tells TV20 that on average, a runaway will be picked up by a trafficker in less than an hour.

According to court documents, the three defendants forced the victim to have sex with approximately 10 men using drugs to keep her high and unaware of what was happening.

All tools used by traffickers to keep their victims dependent.

"Being forced with consequences if they don't or being addicted to drugs and furthering that drug habit if they don't do it," Alachua County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Art Forgey explains.

"They even teach them how to talk to law enforcement and talk to DCF and deny deny deny so they protect the traffickers," Kitchens adds.

Many of those victims are runaways or foster children.

"The likelihood that they were introduced to a trafficker or found themselves in a situation that they've been trafficked is pretty high."

A statistic, Kitchens says, the community can help lower.

"I encourage the community to really take a look at the children around them and in their lives in their friends lives and pay attention to them because they will talk - children will talk. they need people to talk to."

To learn more about law enforcement efforts to crack down on trafficking, click here.

Trinity Mount Ministries Website

Do Your Homework Before Sharing “Missing Person” Posts:

by DEBORAH EDWARDS-ONORO

You see a post on Facebook or Twitter from someone you interact with online. They’re not a close friend, family member or someone you work with.

It’s someone you met through Twitter, an online game, or they belong to one of your Facebook groups, but you’ve never met them in person.

They’re saying their wife or son is missing. Could you let them know if you see their missing family member?

What do you do?

Do Your Homework

If you’re on social media, it may seem natural to quickly spread the news or share the post. You want to help others and social media makes it easy.

But do you have all the facts?

As Kimberley Chapman points out in Be Careful About “Missing Person Posts”:

It’s one thing to circulate a current Amber Alert, ensuring that all of the information is there, that it comes from a proper source (ie don’t just reshare, CHECK THE LINKS), and that the answer is to call police, not just a random number.

And be sure to update your post when the issue is resolved.

But when someone you don’t know personally asks you to contact them about their missing family member, and they don’t provide:

• Date
• Location

and they ask you not to call police, think twice.

You may not know the full back story.

The family member may have escaped an abusive relationship. Or they may have changed their identity and left the area.

Is the person really missing?

Always check the story. Follow up on any links provided.

Be Responsible

You want to share posts from police looking for abducted or missing persons.

If you see the person or know something about someone who is missing or abducted, always call the police.

Be suspicious of posts about a missing person with no mention of date or location.

Rather than spreading the information, contact the police. It may be a legitimate request, but always contact the police to confirm.

Source: http://tiny.cc/vinq0x 

Trinity Mount Ministries Website

DOJ - New Hampshire Man Charged in “Sextortion” Scheme Targeting Minors:

Department of Justice: Office of Public Affairs - JUSTICE NEWS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Thursday, July 16, 2015

New Hampshire Man Charged with Computer Hacking and Cyberstalking in “Sextortion” Scheme Targeting Minors:

A New Hampshire man was charged with remotely hacking into the social media, email and online shopping accounts of almost a dozen minor females and threatening that he would delete, deface, and make purchases from the accounts unless the victims sent him sexually explicit photographs of themselves.

Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Acting U.S. Attorney Donald Feith of the District of New Hampshire and Special Agent in Charge Lisa A. Quinn of the U.S. Secret Service’s Boston Field Office made the announcement.

“Predators troll the Internet in search of vulnerable children to extort for their own sexual gratification,” said Assistant Attorney General Caldwell. “The Criminal Division and our law enforcement partners are committed to protecting our youth from sextortion and to finding and prosecuting wrongdoers lurking in the shadows of the Internet.”

“Individuals who would take advantage of today’s modern technologies to entice and then threaten minors deserve special investigative and prosecutorial attention,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Feith. “We will continue to work with law enforcement, technology specialists and education professionals to teach minors about the dangers of placing personal information in social media and the need to report threats of this nature so that we may bring these predators to justice.”

“Child sexual exploitation is an alarming problem in our society,” said Special Agent in Charge Quinn. “The Secret Service is committed to work closely with our law enforcement partners to identify and prosecute these predators.”

Ryan J. Vallee, 21, of Franklin, New Hampshire, was charged by indictment with 10 counts of making interstate threats, two counts of computer hacking to steal information, seven counts of computer hacking to extort and seven counts of aggravated identity theft. Vallee is scheduled to make his initial appearance today at 4:30 p.m. EDT in the District of New Hampshire.

According to the indictment, from 2012 through November 2013, Vallee, using various aliases that included “Seth Williams” and “James McRow,” engaged in a computer hacking and “sextortion” campaign designed to coerce numerous minor females to provide him with sexually explicit photographs of themselves. He allegedly hacked into and took control of the girls’ online accounts – including their e-mail, Facebook and Instagram accounts – and threatened to delete the accounts, and defaced the contents of some of the accounts. Vallee also allegedly hacked into the girls’ Amazon.com accounts and, using their stored payment card information and shipping addresses, ordered items of a sexual nature and had them shipped to the girls’ homes. Vallee also allegedly obtained sexually explicit photographs of the girls and their friends and distributed them to others.

The indictment alleges that, in conjunction with his harassment campaign, Vallee sent communications to his victims, usually using a text message spoofing or anonymizing service, threatening to continue his attacks unless the victims provided sexually explicit photographs of themselves. The indictment alleges that, when victims refused to comply with Vallee’s demands and begged him to leave them alone, Vallee responded with threats to inflict additional harm.

The charges and allegations contained in an indictment are merely accusations. A defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

The case is being investigated by the U.S. Secret Service, with substantial assistance from the Belmont, New Hampshire, Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Senior Trial Attorney Mona Sedky and Trial Attorney Sumon Dantiki of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Arnold H. Huftalen of the District of New Hampshire.

Source:  http://tiny.cc/9ieq0x

Trinity Mount Ministries Website