At the outset the Trafficking in Persons (Prevention, Care And Rehabilitation) Bill, 2021 comes off as a law aiming to introduce stringent measures to tackle the inhuman crime of forcing individuals into the murky business of flesh trade. Naturally, if such an inhuman crime exists there has ought to be a law to tackle it along with a robust criminal justice system framework and collective effort at rehabilitation and integration into society of the victims.

It aims to prevent and counter trafficking in persons, especially women and children, to provide for care, protection, and rehabilitation to the survivors, while respecting their rights, and creating a supportive legal, economic and social environment for them, and also to ensure prosecution of offenders.

Inadequate time for feedback

At the same time, a law cannot blindside all other stakeholders that it will affect while focusing on just one issue/offence.

Whenever a law is brought out, there are several stakeholders that stand to get affected by its provisions and hence, it is important to review public comments on the same. However, the Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) uploaded the draft bill on their website on June 30, 2021, inviting comments only until July 14. Many organisations have protested this short span of time provided to give feedback on a 38-page document which should require engagement and dialogue with sex-workers to take their point of view into consideration.

In fact, on July 11, the All India Network of Sex Workers (AINSW), which is a network of sex workers’ organisations from 17 states, wrote a letter to the Ministry seeking extension of time to give their comments stating that 2 weeks was not adequate for garnering stakeholders’ views. Yet, the bill has been listed for introduction during the Monsoon Session beginning July 19. It is pertinent to also note here that as per a letter issued by the Ministry of Law under UPA II government on February 5, 2014 all draft legislation is required to be placed in the public domain for a minimum period of 30 days.

The Human Trafficking Bill was introduced in Lok Sabha in 2018 as well in Lok Sabha, however it was never introduced in Rajya Sabha. The 2018 bill dealt with trafficking, rescue, protection and rehabilitation of victims, the 2021 bill expands the scope to also include offences taking place outside India. Some other salient features of this proposed law include the National Investigation Agency (NIA) authorised to investigate offences under the law and also introduced stringent punishment of death penalty for aggravated offences.

The positives

A few positives of the bill include the widening of the scope of the definition of the word “victim” to include transgender persons, besides women and children and that it applies to offences committed outside India including persons on any ship or aircraft registered in India wherever it may be or carrying Indian citizens wherever they may be, and a foreign national or a stateless person who has residence in India. Aggravated offences that invite the death penalty include cases where the victim has died or has suffered grievous injury (such as acid attack), organ mutilation or removal of organs, or where the victim is a child. It has also widened the scope of offenders including public servants, armed forces personnel or anyone in a position of authority.

However, there are some stakeholders that have raised their objections against certain provisions and they need to be looked at.

Adverse effects on sex work

There are many sex-workers organisations that have expressed their scepticism over some provisions of the bill. To begin with, AINSW sent another letter to the Ministry registering their protest over listing the bill for introduction in the upcoming monsoon session without considering the opinion of the stakeholders even as they sought more time to respond to the lengthy bill. The letter said that they were “pained to note” that the ministry inviting comments and suggestions on the draft anti-trafficking Bill was “nothing  but eyewash” and that “the Ministry has no real intention of considering, let alone accepting, any views and suggestions given by stakeholders on the Bill.”

Their contention regarding the bill is that it seeks to criminalise prostitution without preparing a roadmap for rehabilitation, and also without giving any agency to individuals who wish to be in the profession our of their own volition. The bill completely disregards the volition of a consenting adult who is a sex-worker and wishes to continue as one.

Explanation 2 of section 23 of the bill that defines the offence of “trafficking in persons” states that the consent of the victim shall be irrelevant and immaterial in determination of the offence of trafficking in persons if any of the means mentioned at (b) above is used to commit the crime. Subsection b states as follows:

(b) By means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of authority or of vulnerability, or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person

Further, prostitution is being considered as an aggravated form of trafficking under section 25 (1)(o) “where the purpose or consequence of the offence is prostitution, or any other manner of sexual exploitation of, or any other sexual offence against a victim;” which is punishable with rigorous imprisonment for a term for ten years but which may extend to imprisonment for life and shall also be liable to fine which may extend to ten lakh rupees.

As rightly pointed out by Jaffer Latief Najar, who helmed research and policy project on human trafficking, in The Wire, “Bringing consensual adult or aged sex workers into a rehabilitation plan contradicts the very idea of considering sex work as work, which sex workers have been fighting for decades. It would be a paternalistic response and would deny the dignity to such a person.”

Jaffer pointed to his research engagement with the diverse stakeholders including community members of anti-trafficking target groups points that those seen as ‘victims’ of trafficking need their own voice in the process of their welfare or justice, rather than a paternalistic or infantilised policy system of state or its representatives. He pointed out that the design of the current anti-trafficking system that creates harm, and negates their agency and voices, and hence gives power to institutions like the police, state departments and anti-trafficking “crusaders” to impose their moral and social judgement, policies and intervention programs.

Also, condemning sex work as illegal will not only eliminate the trade itself but will also lead to exploitation due to there being no legal protections. This will make sex workers more vulnerable to extortion and violence since their work is deemed illegal and they cannot seek protection under the law for the same.

Further, in its bid to make the law more stringent, it has seized the accused of any opportunity to get anticipatory bail and has made presumption of offence under section 46 when the offence is in respect of a victim who is a child or a woman or a person suffering from physical or mental disability.

There is also restriction on bail under section 49(3) where bail will be granted if court is satisfied that “there are reasonable grounds for believing that the accused is not guilty of such offence and that he is not likely to commit any offence while on bail”.

Do we need a new law?

This question needs to be asked for two reasons:

1. Section 370 and 370A of the Indian Penal code penalise trafficking and have an elaborate definition of trafficking and exploitation thereof;

2. There is Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 (ITPA) which deals with such offences.

The proposed bill seeks to delete section 370 and 370A from the Indian Penal Code and also has an overriding effect over any other law which naturally includes ITPA. Here, it is pertinent to note that the Justice Verma Committee report of 2013 which was trailblazer in changing approach of criminal justice towards crimes against women had noted that our law has many effective provisions to deal with trafficking but they are scattered in different statutes like the ITPA, Juvenile Justice Act and the IPC and they lacked synergies leading them to be underused. Under ITPA trafficking was already an offence, however it was found that it was one of the most underused provisions of the Act with an abysmal rate of prosecution and conviction. On the other hand, section 8 of the ITPA was highly abused whereby women and children who subjected to the offences under the Act were being ‘arrested’ as ‘prostitutes’.

Thus, it is clear that are existing laws which could only be amended to improve their implementation instead of introducing new law in its place and overthrow already existing mechanisms.

Is death penalty necessary?

The death penalty is introduced for any offence when the government wants to portray that it is serious about curbing the offence and it is a measure that placates the masses. However, the utility of a death penalty to actually convert into deterrence for committing that crime is debateable. Not only because trial of a criminal case takes several years to complete but also because there has been no corelation of punishment of death penalty and eventual decline in number of cases for that crime. The prime example is death penalty for rape which was introduced several years ago but it still fails to reduce the number of cases.

The government misses the mark on bringing about actual change in the criminal justice system and instead passes legislations with rosy provisions. Strengthening the system was needed rather than amplifying punishments. Even the Justice Verma report was against the death penalty and stated “in the larger interests of society, and having regard to the current thinking in favour of abolition of the death penalty, and also to avoid the argument of any sentencing arbitrariness, we are not inclined to recommend the death penalty.”

The section 26 (4) states:

(4) Where a person is convicted of an offence under this section against a child of less than twelve years of age, or against a woman for the purpose of repeated rape, the person shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment for twenty years, but which may extend to life, or in case of second or subsequent conviction with death, and with fine which may extend up to thirty lakh rupees.

If aggravated form of trafficking is committed involving more than one child then also the convict can be sentenced to death.

Other criticisms

The bill also makes abetment liable for the same punishment as the offence which means that vague terms like ‘promotion’, ‘procurement” and ‘facilitation’ which are not properly defined could be misused and over reached by law enforcement agencies.

A Press release titled ‘Coalition Critiques Problematic Trafficking Bill 2021’ which includes comments from civil society members and legal fraternity states that “With over-broad definitions of ‘exploitation’, to pulling the rug from more de-centralised agencies dealing with restoration of bonded labour, the overarching NIA presence is likely to cause more harm than good.”

Also, by criminalising pornography, many private communications by workers in the adult entertainment industry would be deemed illegal. “Post-pandemic, sex workers use mobile phones and apps as their digital workspaces and the videos and photos they send customers and clients are essential working tools. Deeming these exchanges as sexual exploitation deprives sex workers, who are already struggling to make a living, of their livelihood opportunities,” Aarthi Pai, legal advisor, National Network of Sex Workers.

With several such issues springing up and the community most affected by this bill has myriad objections to the provisions of this bill, it would do the Parliament good to take their objections into consideration before passing a law that is supposed to benefit them.

The draft bill may be read here:

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Last week, an incident in Bangalore exposed the underbelly of human trafficking and bonded labour and rape in the country.

A story by The Hindu on May 26 reported the plight of two women from Jharkhand who worked at Bharat Chemical Products, Kumbalagodu. During the lockdown, the two women along with their children, were trying to get home had gone to the Kumbalagodu police station to secure a train ticket. There they met Nicolas Murmu, a migrant labourer who was a native of Jharkhand  too. When the three got talking and the women expressed their plight to Murmu. He told The Hindu, “They told me they had escaped from a factory where they were held captive and harassed. They were now living in a building under construction. They had been given shelter by a contractor. However, he was not treating them well.”

The victims recounted that were taken from Dumka district in Jharkhand to Delhi by a man named Dhamaru where he handed them over to unknown people who brought them to Bengaluru in October 2019 to work at the factory. The women had escaped from the factory in March where they were held captive. One of the victims who managed to escape from the factory in January was located by the supervisor Sanjeev and forced to return and was then beaten and locked up in the room. She said that at the behest of the supervisor, she was raped twice in two days by two men, Sanjay and Kiran, who used to work in the factory.

The victims also told Murmu that they were paid only Rs. 200 per week against the promised Rs. 9,000 per month, were made to work for 15 hours every day, had to sleep with other workers in a cramped room, were confined to the factory and not allowed to purchase basic essentials like soap and oil.

They managed to flee in March and survived by begging and scrounging for food. During that time, they met a man called Asgar Ali who promised them food and took them to an under construction building. However, once there, he misbehaved with one of the women and made sexual advances against her.

Hearing their ordeal, Murmu contacted friends for help and in turn reached activists from Karnataka Janashakti and the Stranded Workers Action Network (SWAN) who rescued the women and children. 

Statement by SWAN

Explaining the series of swift action taken in the matter, SWAN issued a statement saying, “Two FIRs have been filed against the perpetrators of rape and sexual violence and the two women with their children are now safe in a shelter provided by an NGO. A complaint against the factory owner has been registered while the main contractor, Sanjeev, is yet to be nabbed. We welcome the promptness with which the Karnataka administration and Jharkhand Police have responded. The concerned police acted with urgency, The Social Welfare Department issued a compensation cheque to the rape survivor quickly. The Revenue department has issued compensation under the Bonded Labour Act with urgency and the Rural Development department has also extended support.”

However, the organization added that the process to register police complaints still remains complicated due to the legally mandated district Local Complaints Committees (LCC) being almost non-existent.

SWAN also stated that the current lockdown only exposed the frailties and the lives of unorganized workers who have met with death, hunger, dehydration and police brutality. The incident regarding the two women, SWAN said, showed a “lack of enforcement by the government mandating private companies to maintain clear and transparent records of workers in their firm opens more avenues for multiple forms of exploitation. This, in turn, implies that private companies are unaccountable and workers are unable to avail of various benefits under these laws that they are entitled to”.

It pointed out to the Building and Other Construction Workers (BOCW) Act where only 3 crore workers could garner a registration while the actual number stood at 10 crore. This was because of the hardships workers faced in accessing their entitlements through the welfare boards. It also highlighted that women workers were had more so been pushed to the brink of anxiety due to the lack of shelters and toilets, apart from fending to survive in the absence of basic facilities like drinking water.

The organization said that the “saga of the two Santhali women underscored the need to strictly enforce various progressive labour laws — in letter and spirit — such as the Payment of Wages Act (1936), the Minimum Wages Act (1948), The Factories Act (1948), Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act (1976), Interstate Migrant Worker Act (1979), , Protection of Human Rights Act 1993, Sexual Harassment of women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act 2013,BOCW Act (1996), Street Vendors Act (2014) among others.”

In light of the incident, SWAN stated that the need for a comprehensive evaluation and implementation of social measures made by the erstwhile National Commission for the Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector (NCEUS) was critical. It also said that India being a signatory to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), 1966, should ensure social protection which the Indian Labour Organization (ILO) defines as “a set of public measures that society provides for its members to protect them against economic and social distress caused by the absence or a substantial reduction of income from work as a result of various contingencies (sickness, maternity, employment injury, unemployment, invalidity, old age or death of the breadwinner), the provision of healthcare and the provision of benefits for families with children.”

Asserting that the current crisis that was faced by the unorganized workforce and women in particular strongly demanded the need to re-imagine strong security measures and strict accountability and regulatory norms for private enterprises, SWAN put for the demand for minimal non-negotiable principles to be followed.

Demands

1. There has to be a comprehensive investigation of human trafficking networks that is the source of exploitation and subversion of constitutional rights. The government must put in place safe, sustainable employment options for women to prevent such distress migration. Strengthening NREGA is critical to this.  
2. The government must ensure that they maintain a detailed record of all the migrant workers, proactively register them in welfare boards and ensure adequate social security is extended to them. 
3. The government must monitor and have strict regulatory oversight of private companies.
4. Form statutory action groups to focus on women migrant workers and ensure that basic universal social protection measures such as safety, security, nutrition, education, health are proactively provided. Special provision must be made for historically marginalised communities such as Adivasis and Dalits. 
5. Have a single-window grievance redressal system where women can register and seek redressal from multiple government departments in the event of any form of exploitation. Such a system should have minimal documentation pre-conditions. Officials in such places must be sensitised to handle such cases with compassion and care. 

The government must ensure that legal help is provided for free and must bear all the logistics cost on behalf of those in need.

That there have been increased Instances of rape, domestic violence and marital rape against women during the lockdown has been widely reported by the media. From March 23 to April 18, a total of 587 complaints were of offences against women had been registered, reported the NCW.

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Rukhsana was sexually attacked thrice in four days by a man who had coaxed her into eloping. Yet, she is relatively lucky because she managed to escape, unlike thousands of girls abducted and forced into a life of sexual slavery, for whom there is no way back.

Rukhsana thought she was in love with the man she had met outside school. “During my conversations with him, he told me that he loved me and that his mother had passed away,” Rukhsana told IndiaSpend. It was only later, after she had escaped and found support from anti-trafficking counselors, that she realised that this man was probably a trafficker. She had not known of the concept before.

Like Rukhsana, thousands of girls in West Bengal are lured or forced into trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation (CSE). 

In 2016, the year for which the latest data are available, West Bengal reported the most children trafficked–3,113 or 34% of all–according to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data. Of these, 86% or 2,687, were girls.

The state also reports more human trafficking than any other in India: the highest number of persons trafficked (4,164 or 28%), the most cases reported (3,579 or 44%) and the highest crime rate (3.81 human trafficking cases reported per 100,000 population).

“Trafficking for CSE was reported to happen in the context of girls eloping with boyfriends who then sold them into trafficking, or girls falling prey to fake marriage proposals and fake job offers,” according to a 2018 report from World Vision India, a charity. 

Other reasons that led to trafficking were poverty–parents had no choice but to accept disguised job offers for their daughters–and kidnapping, the report titled Combat Child Trafficking For Sexual Exploitation In West Bengal said. 

‘I ran away… as he went to buy a ticket’

In August 2018, Rukhsana travelled with the man in a “night coach”–that is, a sleeper bus. “Initially, he was well-behaved, but after the incident, I felt that he was bad,” she said.

“He laughed when I asked him to take me back home,” she said. “Although I thought of running away and coming back home, I never got a chance initially because he was always around.”

Eventually, she got suspicious when she heard him speak in Hindi, a language she does not understand, and say “Delhi”.

“I ran away when he made me wait as he went to buy a ticket, which I think was to Delhi,” said Rukhsana.

After travelling four-to-five hours by train, from a station whose name she does not remember, Rukhsana reached Sealdah station, about 70 km from Basanti. She had the Rs 100 she had taken when she had left home; she used it to get back home.

Although she is scared that the trafficker may come back, Rukhsana is among the few who were able to return home. He has not been traced yet.

“I will tell other girls not to go ahead if they see strangers trying to befriend them,” Rukhsana said.

Low awareness

About 59% adolescents did not know of any way to protect themselves from trafficking, and 72% did not know about services that could help them, the World Vision India study found.

It examined issues related to child trafficking for CSE in three districts of West Bengal–Kolkata, Darjeeling and 24 South Parganas. West Bengal is a focus area as three of the state’s districts–North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas and Murshidabad–lie along the porous international border with Bangladesh and are prone to trafficking. The state also shares borders with Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand, Sikkim and Assam, along with Nepal and Bhutan, making trafficking easy.

The study surveyed 136 women trafficked for CSE in the destination areas, 885 adolescents (aged 12-17 years) in the source areas, and 1,180 caregivers–people who spent the most time looking after the children, such as the biological mother, aunt, grandmother or father.

In addition, qualitative studies were conducted which included 12 focus group discussions with 211 participants, 13 key informant interviews–with police personnel, NGO workers and government officers involved in anti-child trafficking work–and 10 in-depth interviews with women in CSE. The surveys and interviews were conducted in February 2018.

As many as 52% caregivers and 45% adolescents in the source areas said they were aware of trafficking, while 14% of caregivers said they knew of trafficking incidents in their area in the preceding 12 months.

In the destination areas, 26% women in CSE who were surveyed said they had started as minors; 44% between 18 and 25 years, and 29% at 25 years and above. The median age for first sexual experience was 15 years; 43% of women said it was forced. Nearly half the women in CSE had encountered sexual violence prior to getting into it, the report said.

Anti-trafficking units resource-starved

Anti-human trafficking units are currently under-resourced and need more funding, said Michelle Mendonca, a Mumbai-based advocate.

Mendonca has been handling child- and sex-trafficking cases for 14 years now, and has trained judges and prosecutors on these issues.

“The police lack resources to conduct an in-depth investigation if the child is trafficked from a different state,” Mendonca said, adding that the police need to be held accountable once they are trained in dealing with cases of trafficking. They also need more resources.

Citizens can help by volunteering to be witnesses on sex trafficking rescues, and then providing evidence in court, said Mendonca.

Poverty and desperation lead people to unsafe migration, making them vulnerable to trafficking.

“But another important factor which enables trafficking is the culture of impunity,” said Mendonca. “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.”

Young children are totally in the clutches of traffickers, Flavia Agnes, women’s rights lawyer and co-founder of Majlis, a non-profit that provides legal services to women and children, told IndiaSpend. “Delay in court is also a factor that has [an] adverse impact,” she said.

Rehabilitation often involves returning the child to the same parents who had initially trafficked them.

“We have to stop thinking that the natal family is a safe haven for young children and evolve innovative strategies of rehabilitation,” said Agnes. “The state has to take the onus to stop child trafficking in the country.”

Trafficking widespread across India

Three in five–or 9,034 of 15,379–persons trafficked in 2016 were children (below 18 years), NCRB data show. Of these, 4,911 (54%) were girls and 4,123 (46%) were boys.

West Bengal reported the most children trafficked, followed by Rajasthan (2,519), Uttar Pradesh (822) and Gujarat (485).

West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Odisha are common source areas for trafficking to red-light areas across India, according to the India Country Assessment Report 2013 on anti-human trafficking, brought out by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

Sexual exploitation for prostitution (22%) was the second major purpose for human trafficking in 2016 in India, after forced labour (45%), NCRB data based on the statement of rescued victims and the accused showed.

More than 23,000 victims were rescued in 2016, of which 61% or 14,183 were children and 39% adults. Of the 14,183 children, 61% were boys and 39% girls.

Rajasthan reported having rescued the most–5,626 or 40% of all victims below 18 years. Madhya Pradesh (2,653) was next, followed by West Bengal (2,216), Uttar Pradesh (852) and Tamil Nadu (648). 

West Bengal rescued the most (1,819) female victims below 18 years, followed by Madhya Pradesh (1,678) and Tamil Nadu (433).

Gap in data and under-reporting

“Existing prevalence data–from secondary sources–for human trafficking for CSE do not exist as victims are a hidden population and there is no valid survey method to track it,” the World Vision report said. Estimates of women and girls in CSE vary from 70,000 to 3 million in India, it added.

NCRB data reveal only reported cases, Joseph Wesley, head of anti-child trafficking programme at World Vision India, told IndiaSpend. “From our experience, I can say that not all cases are reported, simply because parents are very hesitant to report or parents themselves are involved.”

“Police should be proactive in booking the cases under trafficking provisions,” he said. “Often cases are booked as kidnapping or missing person cases even though there is clear evidence of trafficking.”

Insufficient data hinder work for organisations such as World Vision India. Government agencies’ work also suffers–lack of data makes it difficult to detect and target high-prevalence areas, making it difficult to focus prevention and law enforcement efforts effectively, Wesley added. 

“Lack of data makes it very difficult to track the gravity of the situation and the scanty numbers indicate that there is no immediate problem,” said Agnes. “Officials tend to dismiss or undermine the problem. Having accurate data on such a serious issue is critical to evolve effective strategies. Many NGOs are now in the process of compiling data about child trafficking. Though this is not official data, it is useful as a pointer.”

“There is a global data gap in reporting trafficking,” said Mendonca. “It is not easy for trafficking victims to report because many of them are from some of the most vulnerable and marginalised sections of society but a lot of data is lost due to lack of an integrated data collection system.”

“Integrated reporting and use of digital databases by police would result in more accurate national collation of data,” said Mendonca. “Once first information reports and chargesheets are entered into a digital system, there would be more accurate reports of trafficking crimes.”

(This article is a part of the World Vision India-LDV fellowship on child trafficking.) 

Correction: The story was updated to correct the headline.

(Paliath is an analyst and Mallapur is a senior analyst at IndiaSpend.)

Courtesy: India Spend

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The helpless Rohingya refugees who fled to Bangladesh since late August last year to escape a brutal military campaign in Myanmar’s Rakhine state are now facing another threat – human trafficking.

Life in the cramped camps is tough. Many of the Rohingyas are trying to escape the camps to build a better future for themselves and their families. Human traffickers are taking advantage of this situation.

Around 40 trafficking cases have been reported in the refugee camps since the latest influx started, according to an unofficial source. The information could not be verified independently but given the sheer number of the refugees – more than a million – the number of cases seems credible.

Back in their homeland in Myanmar, the Rohingyas are denied citizenship and basic rights by the government. Members of the mainly-Muslim ethnic community often venture out of their country in desperation and end up falling prey to trafficking.

Media reports indicate that many Rohingyas are now stranded in India and Nepal after moving there illegally from Bangladesh. Their exact numbers could not be ascertained.

Rohingya refugees in India

The Dhaka Tribune met an eight-year-old Rohingya girl, who identified herself as Nuri, at an Indian safe home in southern Kolkata. Her family fled from Myanmar in mid-2017.

Nuri has been living with other Bangladeshi trafficking victims rescued by the Indian police for about a year now. She was found in Kolkata’s Habra Bazar with two other Bangladeshi girls from Cox’s Bazar.

She reluctantly gave her identity. Nuri said she had come to India from Bangladesh with her parents and two sisters. “Police sent me here, and put my sisters and parents in jail,” she said.

When asked who had helped them cross the border, another girl Koli, who accompanied Nuri’s family, said a broker did. “But we were later caught by the police,” she said.

Nuri said her family stayed at a rented house in Patiya for a month after fleeing Myanmar. After her two other sisters, who were already in Hyderabad, told them to come over, one of her brothers-in-law contacted the middle-man.

Koli, 14, said she and her sister wanted to go to their aunt’s house in Hyderabad. A broker took TK10,000 from the two sisters and TK40,000 from the Rohingya family.

“Nuri is from Burma. Her family was with us. The seven of us had started from Cox’s Bazar on the same day last year and were caught by Indian police at Habra Bazar the next day,” Koli said.

An estimated 40,000 Rohingyas are believed to living in India, according to Kiren Rijiju, state minister for home. They include 14,000 Rohingyas registered as refugees with UNHCR, media reports say.
 

Rohingya refugees in Nepal

Nepali travel agent Govind Shahi said Rohingyas were coming there from Bangladesh. “It is not difficult to cross the border … Rohingyas are coming here via Bangladesh and India,” he said.

A report by the Diplomat on December 5, 2017, claimed that some Rohingya were moving to the Himalayan country.

It said that approximately 300 Rohingyas were living in hastily-built shelters in Kathmandu, some in Kapan while about 600 are spread across Nepal. Their exact number was impossible to determine.

“Worryingly, of the 147 Rohingya registered with UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, all arrived before August 25, the start date of the Tatmadaw’s most recent brutal military actions. This means none of the most recent arrivals has been registered as the refugees they clearly are,” the report said.
 

Risk of trafficking in the camps

Bangladeshi law enforcement agencies have prioritized preventing the risk of the Rohingya refugees being trafficked from the camps. All vehicles and exit points are under heavy security check. But the risk still remains high, experts say.

“It actually goes back several years. The grand crisis is just part of a longer story,” human trafficking expert Siddharth Kara told this Dhaka Tribune correspondent in Los Angeles. “Many of them (Rohingyas) have been trafficked to Thailand for prostitution.”

He said the traffickers took advantage of the recent exodus and trafficked girls to India or other parts of Bangladesh. “It is a horrible scenario,” he said, adding: “I do not have that much faith in the repatriation process.”

Assistant Director for Mediation in BLAST Taposhi Rabaya said that at the beginning of the influx, people took away many children from the camps.

“These Rohingya children and women are at high risk of being trafficked. People are trafficking children for domestic work. They just hold the hand of a child and take him or her with them,” she said.

“No one knows what happens at the camps after sunset as outsiders (NGOs and aid workers) are not allowed to stay. Anything can happen. In fact, I did not feel that the security [in the camps] is tight enough even during the day,” she added.

Women’s rights activist Salma Ali said that many Rohingya women and children had already been trafficked. At the beginning of the influx, no one monitored the movement of the refugees.

“I have seen women getting on motorbikes from near the Bangladesh-Myanmar border and nobody knew where they were going. These women and children are in need. They are refugees. They are not sure whether they would be able to go back to their own houses. Living in this kind of uncertainty makes them more vulnerable to crimes or trafficking,” she added.
 

What are the refugee camps doing to stop trafficking?

Various organizations have taken steps to raise awareness about trafficking among the refugees. The Women Friendly Space by UNFPA has two weekly sessions on trafficking.

UNFPA Case Worker Asmaul Hosna told the Dhaka Tribune that they talk about trafficking – what is trafficking? How might they aend up being a victim of trafficking? How will they understand that someone is trying to traffic them?

“Women and children are at high risk. Traffickers may entice them with offers of jobs or a better life,” he said.

At times, they are swayed by such offers and flee with the swindlers, ending up as trafficking victims, he added.

Senior Manager of Child Protection, Save the Children, Mostofa Feroz said such instances were common. Save the Children is running a Child Club in the camps to raise awareness about such issues.

“We tell them (the children) not to trust people offering gifts or jobs. In such cases, we have advised the children to come to our offices. Child Peer Leaders from our Child Club are spreading awareness messages among the Rohingyas about trafficking,” he added.

This article was first published on Dhaka Tribune
 

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In 2010, the UN General Assembly adopted the Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons, urging governments worldwide to take coordinated and consistent measures to defeat this scourge. The plan calls for integrating the fight against human trafficking into the UN’s broader programmes in order to boost development and strengthen security worldwide.

Three years later, in 2013, the   General Assembly held a high-level meeting to appraise the Global Plan of Action and through a resolution designated July 30^th as the World Day against Trafficking in Persons. The resolution declared that such a day was necessary to “raise awareness of the situation of victims of human trafficking and for the promotion and protection of their rights.”

The world body states: “Human trafficking is a crime that exploits women, children and men for numerous purposes including forced labour and sex. The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that 21 million people are victims of forced labour globally. This estimate also includes victims of human trafficking for labour and sexual exploitation.

While it is not known how many of these victims were trafficked, the estimate implies that currently, there are millions of trafficking in persons victims in the world. Every country in the world is affected by human trafficking, whether as a country of origin, transit or destination for victims.”

The fact is that human trafficking has reached alarming levels all over the world. Whilst there is certainly a heightened awareness of this painful reality and that much more is being done to combat this scourge, the bitter truth is that nothing seems to be enough.

In March 2017, India’s Ministry of Women and Child Development told Parliament that there almost 20,000 women and children who were victims of human trafficking in the country in 2016.This number is a 25% increase from the previous year. This rise, the officials claim, is perhaps due to the fact that there are more people who are not only aware of this crime but are also reporting it.

However, there are many who are convinced that the actual victims of human trafficking in India could reach mind-boggling numbers. Many do not report the crime either because they are unaware of the law, are afraid of the human traffickers, or of the law enforcement officials, or are just too poor to have any other option in life.

India is today regarded as the South Asian hub for human trafficking. Thousands from rural India are lured daily by human traffickers to the big towns and cities with the promise of good jobs, more money etc. Most of the victims are women and children who are hopelessly trapped in bonded labour, prostitution rings and other nefarious activities. Some of them end up as domestic workers or have to sweat it out for long hours in small industrial units without the necessary safeguards and with unjust wages.

Hundreds of children are brought from neighbouring Rajasthan to work in the cotton fields of north Gujarat. In 2016 Rajasthan recorded the second highest number of trafficked children in the country. Mumbai, India’s commercial capital has brothels teeming with trafficked women. West Bengal also has a very high percentage of human trafficking mainly because of the poorer bordering countries of Bangladesh and Nepal.

The National Crime Records Bureau reveals that in 2016 an almost equal number of children and women were trafficked in India. Grim facts and statistical data of this terrible reality from every part of the country is easily available; however, what there is in the public and official domain is only the tip of the iceberg.
Human trafficking is a highly complex reality. One is confronted with a myriad problems when one attempts to deal with the issue; the main one being taking on the big-time players: the trafficking syndicates and gangs and other vested interests.

Many of them are politicians and if not, they have powerful political connections and patronage. A few years ago a BJP MP of Gujarat was arrested for human trafficking. In March this year, a BJP woman from West Bengal was charged with running a flourishing child trafficking racket and she has also named some of the other political bosses who support her. In May a BJP leader of Madhya Pradesh was arrested for running an online sex racket. In this terrible game there are few who get caught; most get away!

A recent report of the US State Department on ‘Human Trafficking’ bluntly says: “India is a source, destination, and transit country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking. Forced labor constitutes India’s largest trafficking problem; men, women, and children in debt bondage—sometimes inherited from previous generations—are forced to work in brick kilns, rice mills, agriculture, and embroidery factories. The majority of India’s trafficking problem is internal, and those from the most disadvantaged social strata—lowest caste Dalits, members of tribal communities, religious minorities, and women and girls from excluded groups—are most vulnerable. Within India, some are subjected to forced labor in sectors such as construction, steel, and textile industries; wire manufacturing for underground cables; biscuit factories; pickling; floriculture; fish farms; and ship breaking. Thousands of unregulated work placement agencies reportedly lure adults and children under false promises of employment for sex trafficking or forced labor, including domestic servitude”.

This problem however, is not confined to India alone. War and conflict in several parts of the world has resulted in a situation where many people (particularly children and women) who flee war and persecution, often fall prey to unscrupulous human traffickers and/or smugglers.

From Syria to Myanmar; from Congo to Colombia; from Afghanistan to Sudan ,the plight of migrant children labouring long hours in sweatshops; toiling in fields and other hazardous industries; begging on streets (supervised by syndicates) either in their own countries or in the ‘host’ countries is just despicable.
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) states that, “Over half of the world’s refugees are children. Many will spend their entire childhoods away from home, sometimes separated from their families. They may have witnessed or experienced violent acts and, in exile, are at risk of abuse, neglect, violence, exploitation, trafficking or military recruitment.”

The ISIS has captured an estimated 3.000 Yazidi women and uses them as sex slaves. Several other refugee and migrant women virtually have no choice but to allow themselves to be sexually exploited since they are in the clutches of powerful traffickers.

The Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons has certainly been making efforts to address the endemic issues of this problem. Real change can come about only if world leaders and governments have the political will to stop human trafficking.

Pope Francis is one leader who has shown undeniable courage to keep the issue on the radar and emphasizing the importance of it being dealt with at different levels. He has been very vocal in his stand against human trafficking referring to it as “a crime against humanity” “a form of slavery”, “a grave violation of human rights” and “an atrocious scourge”. He has also said that there is “evidence which brings one to doubt the real commitment of some important players.” This is plain- speak from the Pope who is certainly vexed about the problem and wants an immediate and urgent halt to it!

As we observe yet another day devoted to a fight against human trafficking, we need to pledge that we will show the courage and commitment to eliminate this crime against humanity, from the face of the earth!

* (Fr Cedric Prakash sj is a well-known human rights activist. He is currently based in Lebanon, engaged with the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) in the Middle East on advocacy and   communications. Contact: cedricprakash@gmail.com )             
 

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