
Ankita
Member • Oct 29, 2013
SAARC Is Developing Mobile Technology That Tracks Missing Children & Combats Trafficking
SAARC or the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, the organisation that works for the socio-economic development of its member countries, now has a body working on developing a digital system based on mobile and GPS technology that will help track missing children at the regional level and combat cross-border trafficking. SAIEVAC is a SAARC apex body which works to protect children in south Asia from all forms of violence, abuse, exploitation, neglect and discrimination.
"We are now seriously looking at how digital technology can be applied to control cross-border trafficking. Hopefully after 2015, we will have an integrated system based on mobile or GPS technologies which can be applied in all the eight SAARC countries," said Rinchen Chophel, director general for the South Asia Initiative to End Violence Against Children (SAIEVAC) secretariat. "With such a system, data will be shared at all levels between different governments so that when a child goes missing in one country, the government of all neighbouring countries get information on that. It would then be easier for them to locate the kids and rehabilitate them," he said.
SAIEVAC's focus, Dr Chophel said, is now on missing children. "Due to its geopolitical location, India is not only a destination country but also a source as well as a transit point for trafficking," he said. No information is yet shared on how this GPS-based technology will work. The numbers say that around 1.2 million children are trafficked worldwide every year for various reasons including prostitution and forced marriage. Many of them are used as cheap or unpaid labour and also for sport and organ harvesting besides being recruited into armed groups.
No information is yet shared on how this GPS-based mobile technology will work. We at CrazyEngineers would like to appeal all our readers to share your ideas and thoughts on development of such an app for smartphones. We look forward to reading your opinions in comments.
"We are now seriously looking at how digital technology can be applied to control cross-border trafficking. Hopefully after 2015, we will have an integrated system based on mobile or GPS technologies which can be applied in all the eight SAARC countries," said Rinchen Chophel, director general for the South Asia Initiative to End Violence Against Children (SAIEVAC) secretariat. "With such a system, data will be shared at all levels between different governments so that when a child goes missing in one country, the government of all neighbouring countries get information on that. It would then be easier for them to locate the kids and rehabilitate them," he said.

SAIEVAC's focus, Dr Chophel said, is now on missing children. "Due to its geopolitical location, India is not only a destination country but also a source as well as a transit point for trafficking," he said. No information is yet shared on how this GPS-based technology will work. The numbers say that around 1.2 million children are trafficked worldwide every year for various reasons including prostitution and forced marriage. Many of them are used as cheap or unpaid labour and also for sport and organ harvesting besides being recruited into armed groups.
No information is yet shared on how this GPS-based mobile technology will work. We at CrazyEngineers would like to appeal all our readers to share your ideas and thoughts on development of such an app for smartphones. We look forward to reading your opinions in comments.