“The only thing necessary for
the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
-Edmund Burke
January 11th of each 12 months is determined as National Human
Trafficking Awareness Day. We all are very acquainted with the term Human Trafficking or it is sometimes referred
as Modern-day Slavery which has have
become a large exercise in contemporary times from beyond few years. After drugs and arms, human trafficking
is the third most heinous global crime.
According to a study around 8 lakh people, especially women and children are
trafficked all around the world each year. We only wakeup when there is a horrifying
blood curdling incidents, we rush to the streets to express our concern, seek
stringent laws, and call for death for every criminal in the world in these dastardly
acts, but soon enough these incidents are blotted out from public memory until
the next horror incident takes over. Despite reports almost every day with time
we have become immune to the stories of exploitation of persons in several
ways.
INTRODUCTION
The definition of Human Trafficking by United Nations
states that “The recruitment,
transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of persons by improper means
(such as force, abduction, fraud, or coercion) for an improper purpose
including forced labor or sexual exploitation is Human Trafficking”.
In simple words Human Trafficking may be defined as a enterprise of
stealing freedom for profit, or a method of
enslaving people by using coercing them into
a state of affairs with
no way out, for
the purpose of exploitation.
The term Exploitation consists prostitution of others or other sexual
exploitation, forced labour, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude
or the removal of organs. Human Trafficking is a highly profitable crime in a
violation of Human Rights. It occurs in every part of the world, victims can be
of any age, race, or gender, but one thing they share is that they are
vulnerable to being exploited.
Are Trafficking and Smuggling same?
No, the two terms are not same at all. They are not
synonymous. To clarify key concepts one can look at internationally agreed
definitions of these two crimes. Trafficking in persons and Smuggling of
migrants are two different crimes that require different responses in law both
with the regard to the rights of the person who has been the object of one of
these crimes. Human Smuggling is the unlawful motion of a person throughout the border, whereas Human Trafficking is the unlawful exploitation of a person.
A trafficked person is someone who is recruited,
transported, transferred or harbored for the use of illegal means such as
fraud, force, or other forms of coercion for the purpose of exploitation, whereas,
Smuggling of migrants is a crime where someone facilitates a person’s illegal entry or stay in a country of which the person isn't a countrywide or everlasting resident, to be able to obtain economic or other material benefits.
Reasons Behind Human Trafficking
When we are talking about the reasons behind human
trafficking there are several reasons which contributes to human trafficking. The
reasons behind this slavery are very complex and interlinked. The reasons of
human trafficking can be religious persecution, lack of employment
opportunities, poverty etc.
·
Poverty- Poverty is the first and
foremost and even the largest contributor to human trafficking. It makes a
person to become a trafficker and it can drive parents to sell their children
or other members of family. Human Traffickers often target poor people by
offering them huge sum of money, or the way to earn money.
·
Lack of Education- Due to lack of education
the opportunities are less to work even for living wages. The persons who do
not have proper education many times fails to acknowledge their rights. These
consequences are enough for people to be at a greater vulnerability for human
trafficking.
·
Social Factors- There are several countries having some cultural and
social practices which are major cause of human trafficking. In some parts of
the world bonded labour is still acceptable to pay off debt. Some places even
have norms of selling children to traffickers especially the poor ones.
·
Lack of Human Rights for marginalized groups- In several nations the
vulnerable groups lack institutionalized human rights, which lead to them a
step ahead towards human trafficking. Nations where laws doesn’t recognize
human trafficking as a crime acts as a punishment to the victims.
Types
of Human Trafficking-
Trafficking
in humans takes place for the purpose exploitation which in general are
categorized as: Sexual and Non-sexual.
Case Study- Bhavani was a girl from a poor family from the
Chithoor district of Andhra Pradesh. At the age of 12 she was married with a
person named Amar, but actually it was not a marriage, she was sold to that
person by her parents in return of some money. Amar took her to Delhi where she
was forced to be prostitute, initially she refused to the same but then they
beaten her unconscious until she agreed. The facts of the case mentions that
the person (Amar) was married 12 times already. Till the age of 17, she was raped
several times, had 5 abortions, she got HIV, and soon she died at the age of
17. In a country
like India, Sexual Exploitation is the most common type of
trafficking. For the purpose of this trafficking women and children are used as
sexual victims. Approximately 200 girls and women are sexually exploited every
day, 80% of them without their will. Sex Trafficking victims are manipulated or forced in opposition
to there will to have interaction in sex for money. Any character below the age of 18 involved in a commercial sex is taken
into consideration a victim of
Human Trafficking. As Sexual Exploitation there are numerous more kinds of human trafficking, a few are discussed under:
·
Forced
Labour- Forced
labour is any work or service which one has to do against his/her will. The
major numbers of victims under this trafficking are from the developing and
under developed countries. Victims are pressured to work for very little pay. Internationally around one in five victims of this
modern day slavery is children.
·
Trafficking
in organs- This
trafficking can be done against any person of any age. The trafficking in
humans for the purpose of use of their organs is growing rapidly as sexual
exploitation. Several countries including India are the victims of this type of
trafficking.
·
Trafficking
for adoption- Here
traffickers use to sold the children of poor people in urban areas by showing
their identity as orphans.
·
Domestic
Servitude- Under
this a person is forced to do household works with the restrictions to move
outside. Traffickers sometimes take their (victim’s) important documents or
passport or travel documents to limit their freedom.
·
Forced
Marriage- A
forced marriage is a marriage in which one or both participants are married
without their consent or free consent. Forced marriage is also treated as a
subject of human rights violation, and child abuse.
Legislative and Constitutional Provisions to
prevent and combat Human Trafficking in India-
India has a wide range of laws and provisions
enacted by Parliament to combat trafficking in human-
·
Article
23- Prohibition of
human trafficking and forced labour:
1. Traffic in citizenry and beggar and other similar
sorts of forced labour are prohibited and any contravention of this provision
shall be an offence
·
Article
24- Prohibits the usage of kids underneath the age of 14 years in any factory, mine or different hazardous activities like creation paintings or railway.
·
Section
366A of Indian Penal Code states that if someone, through any manner whatsoever, induces
minor woman underneath the age of 18 years
to visit any vicinity or to do any act
with rationale that
such girl perhaps pressured or seduced to illegitimate intercourse with another individual shall be punishable
·
Section 366B of Indian Penal Code states that if someone imports any woman underneath the
age of 21 years into India with cause that
such lady perhaps forced or seduced to illegitimate sex with another man or woman will be punishable
·
Section 374 of Indian Penal Code
states that if someone unlawfully compels a person to labour against that
person’s will, shall be punished.
·
Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act 1956 Under this act Trafficking is described as an act of recruiting,
transporting, transferring, harboring, or receiving someone presumably for the purpose of prostitution till that is proved
as amounting to trafficking. Earlier The Immoral Traffick in Women and Girls
Act 1956 was enacted
with the intention of disposing of immoral trafficking
amongst girls and
girls, which became in addition amended and renamed
as Immoral Traffick (Prevention) Act 1986 or ITPA. ITPA changed into mainly legislated to deal in particular with trafficking.
·
Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation)
Act, 1986
The main objective of the act is to prohibit
employment of minor children. Child Labour is illegal exploitation of children
below 18 years.
·
The Trafficking of Persons (Prevention,
Protection, and Rehabilitation) Bill 2018- The
Bill protects and rehabiliates infant victims of trafficking.
Bill affords the established order of NATB
(National Anti-trafficking Bureau) to
analyze cases. Punishment for trafficking for bonded labour or
begging is imprisonment for 10 years or lifetime imprisonment, and minimum pleasant of Rs. 1 Lakh, or with
both.
International
Protocols against Human Trafficking-
As trafficking
in persons is a transnational crime that needs international operations. The Victims of Trafficking
and Violence Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) guides the foreign governments to legislate
laws relating to trafficking.
·
UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish
Trafficking in Person, especially Women and Children
·
1949 United Nations Convention for the Suppression
of the traffick in Persons and of the exploitation of the prostitution of
others.
·
Convention against Transnational Organized
Crime, also known as Palermo Protocols:
1. Protocol to Prevent, Suppress,
and Punish Trafficking in Person, specifically Women
and Children
2. Protocols in opposition to the Smuggling of
Migrants through Land,
Sea, and Air.
·
Principles and Guidelines of United Nations
on Human Rights and Human Trafficking, May 2002.
·
The Declaration on the Elimination of
Violence Against Women, 1993
·
The Optional Protocol on the sale of
youngsters, Child prostitution and kiddie porn, 2002
Facts
about Human Trafficking-
·
Globally around 71% of enslaved persons are
women and girls, rest 29% are men and boys.
·
The average age of a teen entering the sex
trade is 12years in USA.
·
According to the reports Social Media
nowadays is playing a vital role in recruiting and advertising targets of human
trafficking.
·
In 2018 around 51.6% of overall trafficking
in USA is sex trafficking.
·
This business earns around 150 Billion USD a
year in which around two-third is generated from commercial sexual
exploitation.
·
It is estimated that in today’s world more
than 20 million people are engaged in human trafficking.
·
People are even sold on social media and
smartphone applications.
·
Children
too are forced for begging, as well as child pornography.
Conclusion-
Modern Day Slavery is a hidden crime. Human Trafficking is a
highly profitable crime in a violation of Human Rights. We need to bring this crime out in the eyes of the
society. As per US Department of Health and Human Services, Human trafficking
is the fastest growing criminal industry in the world after drugs and arms because
it holds a relatively low risk with a high profit potential, and around 1
million children are exploited by the global commercial sex trade each year.
According to some researches, approximately 80% of the trafficking involves
sexual exploitation, and 19% involves labour exploitation. Slavery was
abolished 150 years ago but yet there are more people in slavery today than at
any other time in the history. Around 20.9 million people are trafficked right
now. Human Trafficking is the clear violation of Human Rights. In order to prevent Human Trafficking, the
laws must be strengthened that they meet all the requirements to prevent it.
Most of the victims of human trafficking are poor and unemployed persons, so
Government should help them by providing proper education and employment.
References:
·
Constitution of
India, 1950
·
www.businessinsider.com
About the Author- Mr. Ayush Shukla is a law student at SRMU, Lucknow. He can be reached at- shuklaayush464@gmail.com .alert-info
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