Human Trafficking is modern slavery
By: Vinod Chandrashekhar Dixit
11th January is observed as National Human Trafficking Awareness Day to raise awareness about the condition of human trafficking victims, as well as to promote and safeguard their rights. We all have an important role to play in preventing human tracking and protecting victims.
Thousands of children are trafficked every year from rural, tribal as well as urban areas in India. Victims are bought and sold like commodities. Catching child-sex tourists is only part of the problem in Nepal. Nepal has become a source as well as transit destination for trafficking of women and children for sex trade tourism from neighbouring countries.
When there is an illegal movement of a person from one country to another, a smuggling component is involved, it becomes human smuggling. Human smuggling becomes human trafficking when there is no consent of the person and people are held against their will for sexual exploitation or labor.
Human trafficking is considered a modern form of slavery. This illegal act involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion to obtain labor or sex. Traffickers use violence, manipulation, or false promises to lure their victims into trafficking situations. Trafficking victims usually experience physical and/or psychological abuse.
Women and girls comprised 84 percent of victims of forced marriage and 99 percent of victims of forced labour in commercial sexual exploitation. Trafficking through India should be stopped immediately. Hapless women, especially young ones, are lured on false promises and taken to various countries by unscrupulous and anti-social elements and sold for flesh trade.
India, like many nations, is a signatory to these conventions, but implementation is poor, because of factors such as corruption, lack of capacity and expertise and cultural norms, attitudes and stigmas. The government should alert the Nepal administration and prevent the human trafficking.
Human trafficking is just another name for modern-day slavery, wherein the victims involved are forced, coerced and deceived into labour and sexual exploitation. In India, children from poor and rural communities, especially those with emotional, physical and learning difficulties, are particularly vulnerable to inter-country trafficking.
The culprits should be brought to book and exemplary punishment to be imposed. Every 8 minutes, a child is missing in India. It is reported that children from rural areas in poor condition are trafficked to cities for employment in industries such as spinning mills, hotels, restaurants, and construction for little or no pay at all.
They are often physically and mentally exploited by the employers and have to work under hazardous conditions. Many girls are forced by families or sold by traffickers for child marriage. In most cases the condition of girls in early marriages is like slaves. They are exploited physically and mentally.
It is a well-organised network and we need to call for stringent laws and implementation of such laws to contain the menace. Both the Indian and Nepali governments are complicit in the abuses suffered by trafficking victims. These abuses are not only violations of internationally recognized human rights but are specifically prohibited under the domestic laws of both countries.
In Nepal, border police are also bribed to allow traffickers to transport girls to India. The high inspiration of the parents and when the children fail to live up to the expectation, they take the wrong path because of which other youths of their age fall victim to their wrongdoings. Children have always been a soft target both because at times they are not much aware of the fact that what is happening to them is wrong.
If at all they are aware of it, then they are scared to speak about it. Those that suffer physical and emotional abuse and rape may never be able to live normal lives again whereas those that are threatened live in constant fear and end being psychologically compromised.
It is the violation of human rights and children are deprived freedom. It breaches the child’s mental and physical ability which is primary to every child’s growth. Children lose their childhood because of the ill-practice of child trafficking. The basic rights of children, irrespective of economic status, caste or gender, are robbed from them.
The first step to spreading awareness effectively is educating yourself. Knowing the signs and characteristics of trafficking will give you the ability to be more aware in your own community, and to spread that awareness to your network.
The consequences of child trafficking are dreadful. Improving and implementing prevention programs is critical. What we need is right from early childhood, kids should be taught about the sensitive issues and the lawmakers too should enact and follow strict laws to curb this menace and keep the kids safe. Weak legal system is yet another lacuna which adds to the menace.
(The author hails from Jodhpur Tekra, Ahmedabad)
KV News
