Why is Human Trafficking Not an Issue?

By Onkareshwar Pandey

New Delhi, November 22, 2018: In the last 5 years, the media has reported several cases of human trafficking across India. The states going to polls feature commonly in such reports from where children, women and men get trafficked for forced labour or sexual exploitation internally or inter-state. Reports from UNICEF, NCRB data and case investigation reports with the police suggest that the trade of recruiting people in poverty or other forms of vulnerability, promising them good work and then selling them into some form of exploitative labour, where they are held in confinement and bondage, is spreading and profitable, where prosecution and conviction rates are very low. But still, human trafficking has not yet become a people’s issue for political parties contesting the assembly elections in these states.

The issue of human trafficking has been recurrent in almost all states of India, some more affected than others. All the 5 states of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana and Mizoram going for elections are affected by human trafficking wherein children and young people from these states are found to be trafficked to other states or countries for forced labor and sexual exploitation and that there are criminal networks operating in these states where the police and prosecution are failing to convict these criminals in organised gangs.

Survivors of human trafficking and activists from poll-bound states of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana and Mizoram gathered here today to discuss why human trafficking has not yet become a people’s issue for political parties contesting the assembly elections in these states.

J R Sharan of Sankalp Foundation, which organized the consultation, said: “Efforts to combat human trafficking have been conventionally led by the departments of Women and Child Development, Social Welfare and the Police, supported by a few NGOs who run shelters, focus on rescue and rehabilitation services. But increasingly, the question that arises is that if all poor and underprivileged families are vulnerable to trafficking, children and women therein more specifically, does it get recognized as a people’s issue or a mainstream governance issue?”

“It is time that political parties should rise above populist agendas and think make issues like human trafficking as their political agendas,” he said.

According to Manju Gardia of Jan Jagaran Majdoor Adhikar Manch, Chhattisgarh, approximately 20,000 people would go out of Chhattisgarh as migrant and bonded labourers every year from the five districts when they started working in 2006, but now the number has crossed 1 lakh. “Labour trafficking is surging in most part of Chhattisgarh, but sadly it’s not a priority issue for governance in the state.”

Hemlata Kansotia of Rajasthan Nirman Majdoor Panchayat Sangathan said Rajasthan is the second highest trafficking-affected state with 1,422 cases of human trafficking according to the National Crime Records Bureau, 2016. The state police has rescued large numbers of children being trafficked from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh for forced labour, and young women trafficked for forced labour and sexual exploitation. These children have been put into servitude in small factories and sweatshops.

Social worker Sumitra from Ankuram highlighted the rise of sexual offences against women and minors with the explosion of the IT industry and easy access to pornography in Telangana.  The entertainment industry has also added to the increased spate in sex crimes and have increased vulnerability of women, who get into a vicious cycle, she added.

Survivors of trafficking who were present at the consultation also raised a number of issues related to human trafficking and expressed dismay that political parties have not yet considered human trafficking a people’s issue and made curbing of this menace as one of their priority agendas.

“While the trafficking of persons bill is pending a decision at the RajyaSubha,  it is critical to set the mandate at the state level to optimize efforts. It is essential for every state to mandate setting up of notified AHTUs, and shift responsibility of investigations of trafficking cases from local police stations to these specialised units, to improve conviction rates. Prosecution of labour contractors and agents who victimisedefenceless migrants will go a long wait in prevention and protection of the vulnerable,” said Roop Sen, a researcher on human trafficking.

“They also appealed for rehab services that include legal services for victim compensation, protection from traffickers and health services for recovery.  Shelter homes do not serve our interests, their services don't help us in recovery or employment,” said Pompi Banerjee, a psychologist and member of Kolkata-based NGO Sanjog.

They, however, hoped that the Trafficking of Persons Bill 2018 should soon be passed in the Upper House and become a law as it has the capacity to change the trafficking scenario completely. The Bill, they said, promises stringent punishment for traffickers and quick relief for victims, which could help curb the menace and bring the perpetrators to justice.