According to a study conducted by Goa-based NGO ARZ (Anyay Rahit Zindagi) titled “Sex Trafficking in Goa: Situation and Intervention (2019-2024),” the girls who were rescued from the clutches of commercial sex exploitation in this period, were trafficked were from various parts of the country and outside. From outside India, women were trafficked trafficked from countries like Kenya, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Kyrgyzstan. The top four States within India from where the victims were trafficked were Maharashtra, West Bengal, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh.
According to the report, the factors that make individuals vulnerable in their home State and country. The common factor that links all of them is poverty, which makes them vulnerabile to get trafficked.
While trafficking victims come from a range of backgrounds, including from economically privileged families, trafficking is linked inextricably with people with a lack of resources, notably job opportunities.
Living in poverty is a harsh reality to escape from and people become desperate enough to enter into fraudulent employment schemes or be deceived into prostitution. Traffickers target people who have few economic opportunities and those struggling to meet basic needs.
With over 35% of the world’s population living on less than $2.00 a day, 2.5 billion children, women and men are at risk for human trafficking.
Even after trafficking survivors escape, poverty continues to plague their lives. Many struggle to support their families, pay for education, cover medical costs, put food on the table, and afford stable housing.
More people across the world are now displaced due to climate change-induced disasters than conflicts, reversing a historical trend, noted the World Migration Report 2022. This has created a vulnerable group of population that is targeted for trafficking, studies have shown.
Some 30.7 million displacements in 2020 were triggered by natural disasters in 145 countries and territories, according to the report published every other year by the United Nations International Organisation for Migration. Such displacement after disasters leads to people becoming easy targets for traffickers.
Social justice and equitable development are needed to end human trafficking. The governments across the world, led by the United Nations, must address the root causes of human trafficking, which is poverty and inequality. Trafficking of humans happen for two main purposes – forced labour and commercial sex.
Nationally and globally if we see, social development is restricted to a few pockets. A majority of the countries, like in Africa and South Asia, are reeling under acute poverty, torn apart by war and hit by impact of climate change. There has to be a strong financial model that would provide financial security to the poor and the vulnerable, especially women. Ultimately the trafficked people are victims of poverty and zero development.
While there has to be a development programme to prevent trafficking, the rescued trafficked victims need to be financially and socially rehabilitated in a way they don’t fall prey to the traffickers again. Arz Goa’s rehabilitation model for rescued victims of sex trafficking can be followed.
The Goa-based NGO has set up a production facility for manufacturing paper products and tied up with partners to sell them to retail stores. The governments across the country and world can adopt this model as per their requirement.
We must have stronger laws and law enforcement to help combat human trafficking. There should be very strong surveillance on the national and international borders to prevent human trafficking. Child protection systems and specialised justice systems can help protect children from human trafficking.
Educating people about human trafficking and how to recognise signs of exploitation can also play an important role in preventing this social evil. Comprehensive victim support services can help victims of human trafficking.
Moreover, hold traffickers accountable. The law and order machinery should be robust enough to bring traffickers to the book. Also, ensuring that international agreements are turned into national laws can help combat human trafficking.
Public-private partnerships and regional and thematic networks can help combat human trafficking.
All these points suggested above can help combat human trafficking. But there has to be political will to work on these strategies. The problem is, world over, the political/military leaderships are too busy to fill their own coffers and save their own chair, rather than work for the poor and the vulnerable. Unless there is seriousness in tackling this menace, people will continue to suffer. Looking at the ground reality, the future certainly looks bleak. We can only hope for a positive change.