– By Ananya Nivsarkar
– Intern IPPCS’21
– Student, Lady Shri Ram College for Women
In 1888 Brazil was the last country to abolish transatlantic slave trade. The abolition of slave trade was seen as one of the most extreme hurdles that the world had overcome together, globally. But have we really overcome it? Slave trade might be no longer prevalent in its old means and ways, but its modern manifestations still continue to plague the world in abominable ways. Human Trafficking has been recognised as the worst modern manifestation of slave trade by United Nations and various NGOs. It’s not just the moral nature of the problem and the human rights violations attached to it that make it so terrible but also the inability of the countries around the world to overcome the problem or even the challenges related to it. The persisting nature of the problem and its repercussions on the victim’s life should also be counted when addressing the problem as a whole. In Human Trafficking, the worst affected are women and children due to their already vulnerable position in the society and the nature of work that they are made to engage in.
Section 370 of the Indian Penal Code defines Human Trafficking as
“ Whoever, for the purpose of exploitation, recruits, transports, harbors, transfers, or receives, a person or persons, by using threats, or using force, or any other form of coercion, or by abduction, or by practising fraud, or deception, or by abuse of power, or by inducement, including the giving or receiving of payments or benefits, in order to achieve the consent of any person having control over the person recruited, transported, harbored, transferred or received, commits the offence of trafficking. The expression “exploitation” shall include any act of physical exploitation or any form of sexual exploitation, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude. The consent of the victim is immaterial in determination of the offence of trafficking” (Govt. of India, 2013: 5).”
This definition has met with a lot of skepticism mainly due to its broad nature and only a criminalisation approach to tackling it. The National Crime Record Bureau submitted a report to the Supreme Court in 2019 which recognised that Mumbai and Kolkata witnessed highest cases of trafficking in women and children. According to NCRB’s data 95% of all the people trafficked in India are forced into prostitutions. But the numbers presented by NCRB are known to remain contested as it presents its data only according to the legal definition.
Sex and Child Trafficking
Sex trafficking is defined as “the action or practice of illegally transporting people from one country or area to another for the purpose of sexual exploitation”. Physical and mental exploitation along with coercion is extremely common in the cases of sex trafficking.
Although, all genders have been victims of sex trafficking, mostly women are known to be exploited.
In India, a lot of times women and children (girls) are lured into it through deception. The trafficker gains their trust through the promise of finding them work in another country or a better state or takes them to another place with a skewed sex ratio to get married. But instead the traffickers cease their identification documentations and force them to work in brothels or as a sex worker or just sold off to an abusive individual.
Sex trafficking, a lot of times, coincides with child trafficking. Child Trafficking is essentially “any person under 18 who is recruited, transferred, transported or received for the purpose of exploitation, either within or outside a country”. Trafficked children are mostly put into activities like domestic services, child labour in factories and under dangerous conditions, in illegal activities like drug smuggling or organ trade and finally they are also put into commercial sex/prostitution trade.
India is a common source, destination as well as transit country to various human trafficking activities including sex and child trafficking. As a destination, women and children from Nepal and Bangladesh are brought to India. As a source and transit country, women and children from India and other, mostly South Asian, countries are shipped to Middle Eastern, European and African countries.
Challenges for India in Sex and Child Trafficking
Abhishek Singh Bhadouriya, in his detailed study of Human Trafficking identified various issues that India faces when it comes to sex and child trafficking. These can be viewed as root causes to the persistent problem of human trafficking in India. I attempted to analyse some challenges that relate the most to sex and child trafficking.
Poverty and Unemployment
Lack of education and adequate skill development stemming from poverty as well lack of economic opportunities make women/children and their family members desperate for a source of income. This leads them to either going into the commercial sex work due to financial burden or they/their families put their trust in traffickers to secure them a good job but instead they are forced into prostitution work or child labour and related illegal exploitation.
Thriving Market of Commercial sex and Prostitution
Commercial sex work has turned into a huge business and economic advantage due to its demand model which required a constant supply of women through middlemen who are traffickers or pimps. These middlemen exploit women, don’t provide them fair wages or safe working conditions, liberty to choose customers etc.
Gender Discrimination
Gender discrimination is the reason for lack of opportunities and education for girls and women, as well as a skewed sex ratio (due to female feticide). Both of these play a huge role in child and sex trafficking as they put women and girls in a vulnerable and compromised position and give them no choice but to be victims of human trafficking knowingly or unknowingly.
Institutional and Policy Challenges
A lot of problems are based on the government’s end rather than the society’s end. Inadequate and loosely implemented urban policies compromise people of the quality life they could get but can’t and thus move to engage in activities which might lead to them being victims of human trafficking. Policies are needed for rehabilitation of victims of sex and child trafficking after they have been rescued which should also include mental health provisions. Moreover, current government institutions in place are still not sensitized or trained enough to deal with victims and crimes related to child and sex trafficking.
Conclusion
To tackle the issue of sex and child trafficking, it is of utmost importance that government addresses why the problem persists in the first place. Problem of human trafficking not only makes India more vulnerable to security concerns but also makes it a country with a plethora of human rights violations and unsafe territories for women and children. Such illegal activities have various negative implications on not just the economy or the country but also on the victims and citizens of the country. Strategic government intervention is the only way to put an end to these crimes.
References
1. https://www.ijlmh.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Human-Trafficking-Its-Issues-and-Challenges-in-India-A-Study-from-Human-Rights-Perspective.pdf
2. http://www.shanlaxjournals.in/pdf/ASH/V4N2/Ash_V4_N2_017.pdf
4. http://ijariie.com/AdminUploadPdf/Child_Trafficking_in_India_ijariie5843.pdf
6. https://www.dianova.org/opinion/human-trafficking-in-india/
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