HUMAN TRAFFICKING
hrbadlavgroup@gmail.com Human Trafficking – Meaning and Causes:
Human Trafficking is the trade of human beings
for sexual exploitation, forced labor or forced removal of organs. While all
genders run the risk of being exploited and trafficked, in India at least,
women and children form the most vulnerable groups.
Lack of education and proper awareness is one of
the many reasons which makes women and children so prone to the danger of human
trafficking.
In India women and children are often trafficked
to the Middle East. Though there is available no concrete data, many NGOs claim
that human trafficking affects around 20-65 million Indians.
Poverty and unemployment often compel people to
migrate to unsafe places where they fall victim to human traffickers. Children
from tribal areas are at a higher risk of being trafficked including the Kuki
people from Manipur and Nagas from Nagaland. The state of Jharkhand and the
Anantapur, Prakasam regions of Andhra Pradesh are extremely susceptible to
human trafficking.
Women and children subjected to human
trafficking suffer both physically as well as psychologically. In the case of
sexual exploitation, condoms are rarely used and, therefore, the risk of
contracting STDs is immense.
India has a number of laws which criminalize
human trafficking:
- The
Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1965 (ITPA) is the premier legislation that makes the trafficking
of human beings a punishable offense with a prescribed penalty of seven
years’ to life imprisonment.
- Criminal
Law (Amendment) Act, 2013
has come into force wherein Section 370 of the Indian Penal Code has been
substituted with Section 370 and 370A IPC which provide for comprehensive
measures to combat the menace of human trafficking of children for
exploitation in any form.
- Prevention
of Children from Sexual Offences (POSCO) Act, 2012 has been passed exclusively for the protection of children
from all forms of sexual exploitation.
- Besides,
there are several other legislations dealing with the problem. For
instance, Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006; Bonded Labour System
(Abolition) Act, 1976; Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act,
1986; Transplantation of Human Organs Act, 1994, The Juvenile Justice
(Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, etc.
- Indian authorities
also, use Sections 366(a) and 372 of the Indian Penal Code,
prohibiting abduction and selling of minors into Prostitution.
How effective are the Laws?
U.S. State Department’s Office to Monitor and
Combat Trafficking in Persons placed the country in “Tier 2” in 2017. In 2016,
the state of West Bengal reported the most children trafficked (3113) – 34% of
the country’s total according to NCRB data. Of these 86% were girls. The state
of West Bengal was followed by Rajasthan (2519), Uttar Pradesh (822) and
Gujarat (485).
Three in five – or 9,304 of 15,379 – persons
trafficked in 2016 were children. Of these, 54% were girls and 46% were boys.
Sexual exploitation for prostitution (22%) was the second major purpose of
human trafficking in India, after forced labor (45%).
What can be done to reduce the risk of human
trafficking in the country?
- First
and the most important thing is to raise awareness and provide necessary
education:
a. Every person in the
country must be aware of laws providing protection against human trafficking.
They must also have the essential knowledge about the various steps that they can take
to safeguard themselves.
b. Children must be given
special training in schools and at home. They must be strictly prohibited from
talking to strangers and accepting food items/drinks from them. Parents must
have all the necessary details of, say, the child’s bus/carpool driver.
Parents/guardians must also have thorough knowledge about their wards’ friends
and acquaintances.
c.According to recent
reports, victims are often not aware of their rights – for instance, the right
to compensation (Section 357-A of the Code of Criminal Procedure).
- Second, it is important to exterminate the irrational stigma that society attaches to the victims. Victim-blaming is an abominable trend that often becomes visible in cases related to human trafficking, rape, and molestation.
- Third,
certain amendments must be made to the already existing laws:
a. Children must not be
returned to parents who trafficked them in the first place. Separate
rehabilitation homes must be established.
b. The onus of collecting pieces of evidence and submitting proofs must not be on the victim. Since the victim
often flees the spot of exploitation, he/she may find it impossible to muster
adequate evidence.
c.The Police often finds it difficult to operate when the person is trafficked to a different State or is found in a state to which he/she does not originally belong. Therefore, the required relaxations must be made.
d. In order to train and
sensitize the trial court judicial officers, Judicial Colloquium on human
trafficking is held at the High Court. This is also supposed to ensure a
speedy trial. However, more often than not, the proceedings are delayed and
this has an adverse effect on the victim. Thus, it is important that the
procedure is further simplified and made more effective.
e.Laws must be made more
stringent. The same recruiter can repeatedly traffic many vulnerable children
from a village because arrests are generally focused on the place of
exploitation and not on perpetrators complicit in other stages of trafficking.
- People
must not recoil from furnishing statements in a Court of Law if they had really been witnesses in the case. Criminals often do not fear retribution
because they know that the police lacks resources of in-depth
investigation and will never be able to fetch all the people who had been witnesses in the case.
- The media needs to become more active and responsible. ‘Trial by Media’ must also play an important role when it comes to human trafficking.
Human trafficking is a big crime and it should be stopped by taking some serious and strict measures. This article is so well written.
ReplyDeleteWell written ♥️
ReplyDeleteFighting against social evils requires strong character. And in most places we do find that social evils are backed by corruption and government can't do anything with it. Since government also has to cope up alongside with corruption. Hence this crime is one of the hardest to end. And i have no idea about how this can be fixed, hope our future government will hold more guts and will be honest and responsible.
ReplyDelete- foodishk
All we can do is make sincere efforts and hope for a better future...
Delete