The organisation’s border surveillance centres at Ilam, Kailali, Kanchanpur, Banke, Nawalparasi and Rupandehi have recorded that 133 families have migrated to India after the April 25 earthquake in search for safer places while several similar cases go undocumented. “Maiti Nepal is concerned that this trend puts women and children at high risk,” read a strong-worded statement issued by the organisation on Tuesday.

The Indian Embassy in Nepal maintains records of all its citizens working in the country and pays special attention to their safety but the Nepali Embassy in India maintains no such record, Maiti Nepal has stated. In the absence of economic opportunities for these people, women and children are vulnerable to sexual violence and trafficking.

Earlier this week, the government had imposed a ban on international adoption and restricted children from travelling outside their district without an accompanying adult guardian after several people, including Indian nationals, were found taking children towards India.

Nepal has been classified as a Tier 2 country by a US State Department report, meaning that the country’s laws against human trafficking are less than satisfactory. About 15,000 girls from Nepal are trafficked for sex trade in Asian countries each year, according to a UN estimate. In addition, the United Nations Population Fund claims that more than 28,000 women may be at risk of gender-based violence in the aftermath of the earthquake.

In its statement, Maiti Nepal has also urged the government to play an active role to prevent human trafficking after the disaster. “It is illegitimate of the government to stay idle when its citizens are forced to relocate due to the earthquake,” the statement said.