Trafficking is the recruitment, transportation, harboring or receipt of people for the purpose of exploitation. Trafficked victims typically are recruited using coercion, deception, fraud, abuse of authority, or outright abduction. Threats, violence and economic leverage can often make a victim consent to exploitation.
Human trafficking is estimated to be a $15 t $20 billion a year industry worldwide. Millions of people are trapped in the modern day slavery through trafficking in various parts of the globe. The main types of exploitation is carried out in the sex trade, domestic service, agriculture and construction industries. It also occurs in the hospitality, restaurant and catering sector, as well as in other small-scale enterprises. World leaders are of the view that modern slavery in terms of human exploitation like forced labour, forced prostitution, organ removal, et al, is the worst crime against humanity and must be seriously recognized by all nations.
The UN Commission on Human Rights estimates that human trafficking is the third biggest crime in the world, rivaling the illicit sale of drugs and arms. The Commission has specified that ‘Trafficking in persons means the recruitment, transportation, purchase, transfer, sale, harboring or receipt of a person: i) by threat or use of violence, force, abduction, fraud, deception or coercion (including the abuse of authority) or debt bondage for the purpose of : (ii) Placing or holding such a person, whether for pay or not, in forced labour or slavery-like practices, in a community other than the one in which such person lived at the time of the original act described in (i).”
Besides, children are likely to be employed in manufacturing industries, when their labour is less expensive or less troublesome than that of adults. Child workers face significant threats of health and safety – with the majority involved in farming where they are routinely exposed to harsh climate, sharpened tools and heavy loads as well as to toxic chemicals. Girls working as domestic servants sway away from home are also frequently subjected to mental, physical and sexual abuse.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) report titled ‘Global alliance against Forced labour’ says millions of people are trapped in forced labour worldwide today. The ILO considers two elements are involved in forced labour: The work or service is exacted under the menace of a penalty; and it is undertaken involuntarily.
The forms of forced labour vary widely. In the past, slavery or bonded labour was common, and still persists in many countries, particularly in Asia. More modern forms are often linked to human trafficking, often involving children for commercial activities ranging from hazardous labour to drug peddling to begging to sexual exploitation. The most common path to sexual slavery is of girls searching for an escape from poverty.
According to the Global Slavery Index (GSI), a report published by the Walk Free Foundation in Perth, Australia, nearly 14.3 million people, including children, are ‘trapped’ in modern-day slavery in India, which tops a global index of people under bondage across the globe with an estimated 35.8 million people enslaved. The report estimates that over 23.5 million people in Asia are living in modern-day slavery – equivalent to almost two-thirds of the global total number of people enslaved and that India and Pakistan account for 45 per cent of the global total. The report said that the people are trapped in slavery through human trafficking, forced labour, debt bondage, forced or servile marriage or commercial sexual exploitation. Children are the worst victims of trafficking, and the consequent slavery.
Official statistics revealed that on an average 187 children go missing every day in India. In 2014, 68000 children were reported missing, and that nearly half of them were reported to be untraced at the end of the year. Among the untraced children, 63 per cent were girls. West Bengal followed by Maharashtra and Delhi reported the highest number of untraced children – over 3000 for each state. The National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) had earlier suggested roles of various stakeholders in the prevention, rescue and rehabilitation of victims of trafficking for commercial and sexual exploitation and had sought a direction to the centre that an Organized Crimes Investigation Agency (OCIA) be set up to probe the cases of human trafficking and organized crimes as such offences involved many states and UTs. The Union government, in a response to a PIL, has informed the Supreme Court that amendment to existing provisions may not be adequate and that there is a need for a ‘comprehensive legislation’ drawn up following the Women and Child development ministry constituting a standing committee comprising representatives from Home Ministry, Labour Ministry, Health Ministry and External Affairs Ministry, besides representatives from NALSA and some NGOs.
One of the serious difficulties that impend efforts at addressing the issue of trafficking is that, the definitions of trafficking and forced labour are so general that it is difficult to prove them in court, in practice.
(The writer is a freelance journalist)
