The UN Designated 30 July as World Day Against Trafficking in Persons in 2013. Trafficking in persons is defined as “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, utilizing the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or a position of vulnerability or the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for exploitation.”
People are trafficked for sexual exploitation (59%), forced labor (34%), forced begging, forced marriage; for selling children and as child soldiers, as well as for the removal of organs; and Women make up 49% and girls 23% of all victims of trafficking. Most victims are trafficked within their countries’ borders — those trafficked abroad are moved to the richest countries.
Unfortunately, Authorities do the tracing of the kidnapping/missing cases half-heartedly because the victims are often from an underprivileged background with no voice to represent their Pains and stories. As we all know, Aadhar card has fingerprint data of the almost whole population of India and if it is not we know who’s responsible. This can be easily used to find who’s who. Origin of all begger kids, destitute, forced prostitutes can be traced back in no time if the authorities have a will and determination. Literally our biggest problem is zero fucking accountability.
Trafficking has nothing to do with development, IT penetration, Digitalization but it depends on Equality in society. According to a report by the State Department, the top three nations of origin for victims of human trafficking in 2018 were the United States, Mexico, and the Philippines.
In India, thousands of persons go missing every year. Poverty and desperation lead people to unsafe migration, making them vulnerable to trafficking. About 59% of adolescents did not know of any way to protect themselves from trafficking, and 72% did not know about services that could help them.
The constitutional & legislative provisions related to Trafficking in India
- Trafficking in Human Beings or Persons is prohibited under the Constitution of India under Article 23 (1).
- The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 (ITPA)is the premier legislation for prevention of trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation.
- 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 comprehensive measures to counter the menace of human trafficking.
- Protection of Children from Sexual offenses (POCSO) Act, 2012 is a special law to protect children from sexual abuse and exploitation.
COVID-19 pandemic had increased the number of child laborers. To save Persons from this draconian atrocity, anti-human trafficking units to be established in each State and badly affected districts. There should be a significant role for the labor department in addressing child labor issues and regular training for police officers in handling cases of human trafficking.
https://www.state.gov/reports/2019-trafficking-in-persons-report-2/india/
