Human trafficking : An inhumane crime

Mounika Lingampally writes

INTRODUCTION:

Human Trafficking is one of the biggest problems and barriers in the development of the world. Human Trafficking means the trade of humans for the purpose of forced labour, sexual slavery or commercial sexual exploitation for the traffickers or others. It involves recruitment or transporting people into a situation of exploitation through the use of violence, deception or coercion and forced to work against their will. This is really mournful to say that this happens in our country too and it is continuously increasing. Human Trafficking is thought to be one of the fastest-growing activities of Transnational Criminal Organizations. It is condemned as a violation of Human Rights by International Conventions.

HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN INDIA:

Human Trafficking is the 3^rd Largest Organized Crime after Drugs and Arms Trade across the Globe. Unsuspecting victims, both men and women are trapped into bonded and forced labour, commercial sexual exploitation and illegal organ trade by organized groups. Human trafficking violates Human Rights of the victims. The victim face many consequences as they suffer a long period of exploitation even after they come out of that state. Trafficking is most prevalent in countries like India producing commercial goods, where low-cost labour becomes an inciting enterprise for traffickers. According to the statistics given by the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB), more than 8000 human trafficking cases were reported in India in 2018 and the number has only risen with each passing year. West Bengal with three international borders adjoining it, rank highest in Human Trafficking cases. Around 40% of Human Trafficking cases are in West Bengal followed by Assam, Rajasthan and Gujarat. Largely the reasons for high instances of human trafficking can be attributed to lack of education, poverty, political instability, corruption, poor legal framework etc… This social evil often results in forced marriage, bonded labour, sexual exploitation, sex rackets etc. The National Crime Report Bureau states that 2300 persons were rescued in 2018 from the clutches of traffickers of which 182 were foreigners.

One of the most horrendous cases of Human Trafficking was that of Falak, rescued by the Delhi Police in 2012. The case came to light after the two-year-old baby was brought to the AIIMS [All India Institutes of Medical Sciences] by a teenage girl, who herself had been sold to a Brothel. Investigations by the Delhi Police established that Falak’s biological mother was Munni, a 22-year-old, who was sold to another man by her husband. Munni was allegedly forced to leave the baby with the teenager when she was traded. The Incident, which caught National attention, exposed the shocking and nightmarish world of Human Trafficking, particularly of child-prostitution and minor abuse.

In India, trafficking of Human Beings is accompanied by domestic servitude, pornography, organ transplantation and sexual exploitation and these are forbidden under Article 23(1) of the Indian constitution. The Indian Penal Code addresses the issue with Section-370 and 370-A, prohibiting trafficking of woman and girls and prescribing harsh punishment for the criminals.

Additionally, the Government of India in 1950 has also ratified the International Conventions for the suppression of Immoral Traffic and the exploitation of the Prostitution of others. A few years later, India passed the suppression of Immoral Trade in Women and Girls Act in 1956. In 1986 the Act was further amended and changed which is known as the Immoral Traffic Prevention Act, 1986. The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences [POSCO] Act, 2012 aims at protecting children from sexual abuse, including penetrative and Non-penetrative sexual assault or sexual harassment.

CHILD TRAFFICKING/CHILD LABOR:

Child Trafficking occurs where a child is removed or abducted from his or her familiar environment by someone else for the purpose of exploitation, particularly for labour or sex. Child Trafficking is illegal; giving your children on a way to servitude does not secure a better future for them. These children are often exploited and forced to work under hazardous conditions. Some are abused and subjected to violent treatment. There are more than 10.1 million child labourers in India [2011 census by UNICEF], who are mostly between 5-14 years of age. These kids earn a living by working in factories, Mines, Brothels, Railway Stations and also lose their childhood along the way.

Child Trafficking plays the most important role in child labour. There are two type of Trafficking: one is forced labour where child domestic labour plays an important part. The other is sex trafficking where girls are brought and put into the sex trade. For child domestic labour, placement agencies are involved. Placement agencies are not just responsible for child domestic labour; they are responsible for sex trade as well. Up until a few years ago, appointing of child labour was not a punishable offence, but now it is a punishable offence wherein one has to pay a fine of Rs. 50,000 if found guilty. All proceedings related to this are legal, be it the Child Labor Act, Bonded Labor Act, or the Indian Penal Code: Section- 370. All the released children from the labour work get a certificate when the proceedings are under the Bonded Labor Act. On the basis of this release certificate, a child is eligible to receive a compensation varying from Rs. 1lakh-3lakhs. After all these legal proceedings, when the kid goes to his or her parents, he or she gets the benefits from various schemes from the state and the central government.

As a Parent or Guardian one has a responsibility to safeguard the welfare of children. Parents should give them a Firm Foundation in life by sending them to school or help them learn a vocation. This will open the door for opportunity for a better future because what child becomes tomorrow depends on opportunities they get today. Every child has a right to be protected from getting in work that threatens his health, education or development.

ARTICLE 23(1) OF INDIAN CONSTITUTION:

The Expression “Traffic in Human Beings” used in Article-23(1), commonly, known as slavery, implies the buying and selling of Human beings as if they are chattels, and such a practice is abolished by Article 23(1). But the expression is a very wide one and includes the prohibition of traffic in women for immoral purposes.

Parliament has enacted the Suppression of Immoral Traffic in Women and Girls Act, 1956(SITA), with the object of inhibiting or abolishing the immoral Traffic in women and girls. This Act is now known as the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956. The act aims at suppressing the evils of prostitution in women and girls and achieving a public purpose, to rescue the fallen women and girls to stamp out the evils of prostitution and also to provide an opportunity to these fallen victims so that they could become decent members of the society.

In spite of this Act and other legal provisions found in the Indian Penal Code, the evil of prostitution still prevails. This malady is not only a social but also a socio-economic problem. The malady can be eradicated only if the law enforcing authorities take a severe and speedy action against all erring persons.

In Vishal Jeet vs. Union of India,[1] the Supreme Court has directed the state governments to instruct their law-enforcing authorities to take action under the law to eradicate child prostitution.

The question of rehabilitation of prostitutes and their children was again brought before the Supreme Court in Gaurav Jain vs. Union of India[2], through a Public Interest Litigation under Article 32. A two-judge bench took cognizance of the matter. The Court issued several directions relating to the rehabilitation of the children of the prostitutes, child prostitutes and establishment of juveniles homes for them.

TRAFFICKING IN HUMAN BEINGS AND SLAVERY:

Slavery was practised for millennia from ancient times within the colonies. In the 18th century, the strong abolitionist movement started which called for the abolition of slavery. In the 19th century, slavery was abolished in many countries, this included in the British Empire where the Slavery Abolition Act was enacted in 1833. In the 20th century, an International Treaty called the Slavery Convention was created prohibiting the practice of slavery. In 1948 the first International Human Rights instrument the UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS was adopted. It states that all human beings born are equal in dignity and rights and it prohibits slavery in all its form. Although slavery is prohibited, it continues in the 21st century. Trafficking in Human Beings is a form of modern slavery. It is a crime which has a strong human rights dimension. In short, it involves the recruitment of the victim and their transportation to another state or within the same state for the purpose of exploitation.

Trafficking in Human Beings is defined in the Protocol to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime to Prevent, Suppress, and punish trafficking in persons, especially women and children.

Trafficking involves three elements: the Act, the Means, and the Purpose. Trafficking in Human Beings is a process that involves several stages and several perpetrators.

THE ACT: Firstly, a person is recruited. The Trafficker can be a recruitment agency representative who promises a handsome and well-paid job to the person whilst knowing that the person will be exploited. However, this Act can also be done by a person who may have already known the Victim. It is not common for a victim to be recruited by a neighbour, a friend of a friend or even by a family member. Following that a person is transported to another place in the country or transferred across state borders to another country.

THE MEANS: Deception is an important part of the process of trafficking. A person may be told that they are going to work abroad. For Example: in Agricultural works, in a factory or as an AU pair. Very often the victim believes that they will receive a fair remuneration for their work. Traffickers establish control over their victims. Victims are often subjected to threats, physical and sexual violence and degrading treatment. Many have their identification documents taken away to prevent them from leaving the country.

THE PURPOSE: One of the key purposes of Trafficking of Human Beings is sexual exploitation mainly of human children. However, people are trafficked for other types of exploitation too. For Example: the victims maybe trafficked for agricultural works, forced domestic labour, forced marriage, organ transplantation or begging. Trafficking happens worldwide every day. Victims of trafficking may not always be visible but they are present everywhere. For example: they may be working in a hotel or a restaurant where you are staying.

IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON HUMAN TRAFFCIKING:

Online predators have gone one step beyond and are using social media as a means to lure both men and women into trafficking rings. Some are exploited for cheap or free labour, but the majority becomes sex slaves.

33% of all internet-initiated sex-crimes are orchestrated through social networking sites, and 50% of sex crimes committed against a minor involve the perpetrator obtaining information or pictures from the victim’s social media profile. The latter becomes even more disconcerting if you consider that more than a quarter of Facebook users are under the age of 10 and almost 40% are under the age of 13. 63% of underage sex trafficking victims said that they had been advertised or sold online.

Where there are many benefits to social media, there are many dangers that are present there as well. Did you know that three out of four victims of human sex trafficking were lured from Social media sites like Facebook or Twitter? These predators diligently stalk social media sites creating fake profiles, luring the naïve and vulnerable by preying on their ignorance and capitalizing on their weaknesses

It’s a fairly simple process if you think about it. It does not take much to create a social profile, regardless of the site, you choose. A photo can be obtained from another profile or even a stock photo from Google or a Magazine.

The Predators scour the social media sites looking for the young teens, who have typical issues like low self-esteem, problems at home, runaways, and those looking to make money quick.

A simple advertisement for a great paying job with little to no experience is a common way these criminals get their victims intrigued. Once they click on the link to gain more information, the predators have all the information they need to sweeten the pot and the victim, if uneducated about the dangers of social media and what to be aware off, their fate is almost sealed.

Once they have been sucked into the Human Trafficking trade, it becomes almost impossible to get out. Most victims get hooked on drugs or their self-esteem becomes even more of an issue. They are being exploited, treated poorly, and in grave danger of being abused mentally and physically beaten, and in the most severe situations, they lose their lives.

In order to stay away from these kinds of situation parents should take precautions to minimize the risk of their child meeting an online predation with some simple steps:

• Consider when your child go online;
• Utilize privacy settings i.e. Parental control software’s;
• Monitor and guide online behavior;
• Monitor messaging
• Take care of photographs and cameras.

FACTS ABOUT HUMAN TRAFFICKING:

Freedom is a short powerful word we take for granted every day. It is hard to fully appreciate freedom when we’ve never had it snatched it away from us. We get to choose our jobs, where we live, what we eat, if we are unhappy at work we have the freedom to quit and find work elsewhere. Unfortunately, some people aren’t so lucky. They live the majority of their lives without ever experiencing freedom due to modern-day slavery.

• There are an estimated 27 million slaves in the world today that’s the highest recorded number of slaves in the history.
• The average cost of a slave around the world is 90 US$.
• Human trafficking has been identified as the largest human rights violation in the history of mankind.
• Human trafficking is the third-largest criminal enterprise in the world after Drug smuggling and Arms dealing.
• According to estimates, approximately 80% of trafficking involves sexual exploitation and 19% involves labour exploitation. 
• The average age of a young woman being trafficked is 12 to 14 years old.
• An estimated 13 million children are enslaved around the world today accounting for nearly half to trafficking victims in the world.
• Trafficked children are significantly more likely to develop mental health problems, abuse, engage in prostitution as adults and either commit or be victimized by violent crimes later in life.

It is important to note that Human Trafficking is a very prevalent crime against basic human rights. A crime that has spiralled out of control right under our noses.

THE INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATION:

The international labour organization estimates that 21 million men women and children are enslaved to traffic around the world today. Close to 70% of these people are exploited in industrial sectors like Mining, construction, agriculture and domestic work creating a profit of 150 billion US$ annually and 3.7 million people are victims of forced labour in Africa. But the Asia-Pacific region accounts for the largest number of modern-day slaves in the world at 11.7 million. In a digital society, the law has failed to comprehend the scale of the problem that exits in plain sight.

According to a survey, human trafficking can be found in a restaurant, a hotel, a farm or in a neighbour’s home. In the UK an estimated one hundred and thirty-six thousand people [136,000] are exported with poor wages and atrocious living conditions. The National Crime Agency finds victims predominantly from Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa working in car washes, construction, farming and food processing. Disturbingly it suggests that someone going about their normal day will come across a victim of Human Trafficking but would never recognize them as such.

In 2018, a report by the Global Slavery Index found that half a million people around the world are trapped in modern-day slavery in the United States. The index also highlighted forced marriages noting that women and girls mark 71% of people trapped in modern-day slavery. The persistence of these tragedies is addressed by the Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations.

The Global Sustainability Network and the International Consortium that works closely with Vatican Church of England is one of the many organizations attempting to bring awareness and willingness to act, to save human dignity with individuals, educators, charity institutions, businesses and governments; each taking incremental steps towards realizing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

HUMAN TRAFFICKING AND SMUGGLING OF MIGRANTS:

Every year thousands of migrants and refugees travel across the world in search of a safe haven and better living conditions. Among these people, there are victims of human trafficking and smuggled migrants. What does it mean to be a victim of human trafficking or a smuggled migrant and what is the difference between trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants? We hear these terms very often and while opinions abound that is still a general lack of understanding about these crimes, their root cause and the difference between them and their implications.

To clarify the key concepts we can look at the International agreed definitions of these crimes. A Trafficked person is someone who is recruited, transported, transferred or harboured through the use of illegal means, such as Fraud, Force or other forms of coercion for the purpose of exploitation.  Exploitation includes the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour/ services or slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.

Similarly, the International community also agreed on a definition of Smuggling of Migrants which is a crime that happens when someone facilitates the person’s illegal entry or stay in a country for which the person is not a national or permanent resident in order to obtain a financial or another material benefit. Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants are different crimes that require different response in law both with regard to the rights of a person, who has been the object of one of these crimes and the penalty for perpetrators.

Both crimes post a considerable risk to the safety of trafficked persons and smuggled migrants and there is a need to clarify key concepts, employing correct terminology and to have common knowledge. In order to fill the knowledge gap, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) had developed 14 University modules to provide academics with a practical oriented tool to teach on trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants.

HUMAN RIGHTS:

“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”: Article- 1: Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Over 70 years ago when the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Paris, the International Community Proclaimed the inalienable rights of all human beings vowed, never to allow atrocities like those of the second world war to happen again. By doing so states committed to protect the right of every person on their territory including foreigners, smuggled migrants or victim of trafficking. Smuggled Migrants and victims of Trafficking are more vulnerable to human rights violation because of the particular situation they are in. They may be subjected to serious abuse and exploitation by the smugglers or traffickers who control their situation. They may also in an irregular situation are afraid to approach local authorities and ask for protection when being in fear of deportation. Yet every person is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth through the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Every person’s rights are confirmed under the protocol against the smuggling of migrants and emphasized in the protocol against Trafficking in persons. Trafficking in persons is recognized by all as a serious crime that constitutes a grave violation of human rights. To the victim of this crime states are therefore obliged to provide adequate assistance and protection. Additional Rights apply to specific persons for example: Children and refugees, who both may be smuggled or trafficked, should benefit from special protection measures such as: Housing, Health care or Education.

Everyone is entitled to all the Rights and Freedom [set forth in the declaration] without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or another opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or another status: Article-2: Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

GLOBALIZATION AND HUMAN TRAFFICKING:

Globalization has the potential to create a partnership between countries to work together to ensure that Human Rights are protected and countries that participate in Human trafficking are held accountable.

Globalization of Human trafficking: All acts and attempted acts involved in the recruitment, transportation within or across borders, purchase, sale, transfer, receipt or harbouring of a person involving the use of deception, coercion [including the use or threat of force or the abuse of authority] or debt bondage for the purpose of placing or holding such persons, whether for pay or in involuntary servitude [domestic, sexual or reproductive] in forced or bonded labour, or in slavery-like conditions in a community other than the one in which such person lived at the time of the original deception, coercion or debt bondage.

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS: THE UNITED NATION MILLENIUM DECLARATION:

• To consider full and uphold the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights.
• To combat all forms of violence against women and to implement the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of discrimination against women.

THE UNITED NATIONS OFFICE ON DRUGS AND CRIME: has partnered with other organizations to form the Global action to prevent and address Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants [2015-2019].

Objective 4 of this agreement states: “Regional Cooperation and Information Exchange with law enforcement officials on the identification, investigation and prosecution of offences related to Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants”.

OPERATION RED ALERT:

Operation Red Alert was developed by ‘My Choices Foundation’ in 2014 with a vision to create a prevention program that puts an end to large scale modern slavery and sex-trafficking in India. This initiative allowed ‘My Choices Foundation’ to talk about all forms of gender-based violence, not just trafficking. The ‘Safe Village Work’ designed to work regardless of literacy levels has now been conducted in over 3000 villages. Rolling out a program as ambitious as the ‘Safe Village Program’ is not possible without a network of like-minded partners and organizations, in the five years of Safe Village Program, they have partnered with over 85 amazing organizations. ‘Safe Village Program’ is an innovative creative and well-tested model which does three things well:  1. deciding which village is at risk; 2. running the Safe Village Program; 3. supporting the village after the Safe Village Program has been held.

With over 660,000 villages in India, how do they choose villages for Safe Village Program?          Sex traffickers exploit vulnerable families throughout rural India. This foundation worked with Quantium, a world-leading data analysis Company to create the Red Alert Village Mapping Tool. Quantum uses a number of data sets to analyze and identify villages across India for specific vulnerabilities. The Foundation combines the data-driven approach with the knowledge of their local implementing partners to finally choose village for Safe Village Program.

Operation Red Alert along with the Network of implementing and strategic partners has been able to start operations in eight states across India. In addition to reaching out to new villages through the safe Village Program, it is of the utmost importance to re-visit the villages where the program has already been held and identify most vulnerable among these.

CONCLUSION:

Notwithstanding all these steps and following the International protocols, cases of Human Trafficking has been on the rise which only suggests that legislation for combating Human trafficking needs to be further strengthened. Institutions like the United Nations Organization; the State Organizations must also become pro-active on the issue and contribute towards formulating effective laws against Human Trafficking. Rights of Women and Children guaranteed by the Constitution of India must be ensured and every necessary step must be taken to put an end to Human Trafficking.

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[1] AIR 1990SC 1413: (1990) 3 SCC 318

[2] AIR 1997 SC 3021: (1997) 8 SCC 114

Author is pursuing BA.LLB. from PENDEKANTI LAW COLLEGE