Focus Areas > Human
Trafficking
The trafficking of women is the gravest form of abuse
and exploitation of human beings. Thousands of Indians
are trafficked everyday to destinations unknown to them
and forced into lives of slavery. Article 23, of India’s
constitution, prohibits "traffic in human beings and
other similar forms of forced labor". Tragically,
the tolerance towards which the international society has
shown prostitution compounds the problem of human trafficking
in India. In India everyday, women are trafficked and forced
to become victims of this abominable crime. The three methods
by which women are channeled into forced prostitution in
India are false employment promises, false marriage proposals
and kidnapping. Women are most vulnerable to these crimes
after being deserted by their spouses, when they are in
states of economic distress and after experiencing sexually
exploitative social customs and family traditions.
The Suppression of the Immoral Traffic Act, 1956 (amended
to the Immoral Traffic Prevention Act) came in response
to India’s ratification of the 1949 International
Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons
and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others.
The major flaw in India’s Immoral Traffic Prevention
Act is that it does not prohibit prostitution specifically,
but rather forbids commercialized vice and soliciting.
Moreover, there is no definition of "trafficking" or "trafficker" within
the Act. Because of this, police and judiciary officials
do not have a correct understanding what the act realistically
entails or of the complexities involved when a woman is
trafficked (the different types of traffickers, their strategies,
etc.)
WPC firmly believes that legalized prostitution only lends
legitimacy to the exploitative sector and strengthens the
position of brothel owners and pimps. WPC further believes
in incorporating a clause on ‘client punishment’ in
the legal framework of the trafficking law. Punishing those
who are paying for and raping trafficked women would be
an effective legal measure for cracking down on the demand
aspect of the trade. Further reducing the demand for the
trade will have an automatic impact on the supply.
Actions taken by WPC on this
issue are:
On 13 September 2007, WPC’s delegation met with Mr Kapil Sibal, MP to lobby on Human Trafficking Act.
On 24 April 2008, WPC sent its comments on penalizing the client under the Immoral Traffic Prevention Act, to Ms Sujatha Rao, Additional Secretary and Director General, NACO and Mr Oscar Fernandes, Minister of Labour and Employment followed by a meeting with Ms Rao to further discuss WPC’s stand on client punishment.
Dr N Hamsa, Executive Director WPC met with Ms. Sujatha Rao, Director, NACO on the need to retain clause 5C of Immoral Trafficking (Prevention) Act 1956.
On 11 August 2008 WPC delegation met with Ms Manjula Krishnan, Economic Advisor, Ministry of Women and Child Development to discuss the issue of human trafficking and what steps can WPC take to curb the menace.
National level consultation on Human Trafficking, HIV & AIDS, on June 29, 2010
A National Level Consultation was organized in New Delhi in collaboration with MWCD and UNIFEM. The participants were stakeholders and program and policy initiators who came together to discuss, arbitrate for and define a way forward to create a convergence of efforts, resources and ideologies for a better future for women. There is a clear need, that the anti-trafficking and HIV prevention programs should combine resources in collaborative partnerships to reduce the numbers being trafficked into brothel sex work and to help those already trafficked stay as healthy as possible until they can be safely removed and reintegrated into their communities of choice. It is also clear that such partnerships require inputs from different directions, various agencies and a variety of stand points. The key speakers were Mr. D.K .Sikri, Secretary MWCD, Government of India, Mr. K. Chandramouli, Secretary & DG, NACO, Government of India and Ms Sushma Kapoor, Deputy Regional Program Director, UNIFEM South Asia.
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