645 bonded labourers rescued this year

CHENNAI: More than 645 bonded labourers were rescued across Tamil Nadu this year and the State has more than 65,000 bonded labourers, according to International Justice Mission.Speaking after the inauguration of the awareness campaign ‘Bonded Labour - Freedom Denied’ to mark the International Day for Abolition of Slavery, Andy Griffiths, field office director of International Justice Mission, said his organisation assisted the district administrations of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh to release more than 3,500 victims from bondage since 2001.He said of the released, 90 per cent victims belong to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes community and in many cases there has been additional violations such as physical, verbal and/or sexual abuses.The campaign, which was launched by Neeya Naana Vijay TV talk show host Gopinath, launched a campaign that aims at creating awareness on the existence of bonded labour system in India and encourage the populace of Chennai to stand up for the rights of bonded labourers.