HUMAN TRAFFICKING: A GLOBAL PHENOMENA

INTRODUCTION
Human Trafficking is basically a trade carried upon human beings. It is a global phenomenon i
that indicates itself in the various forms such as sex exploitation, debt bondage, and organ
trafficking. It is based on the principle of supply and demand. Although illegal under
different laws of the world, trafficking in human is recognized as a significant problem all
around the globe and women and girls pay the highest price.

HUMAN TRAFFICKING: A DEMAND DRIVEN INDUSTRY

“Truthfully, Human Trafficking is way of defining Modern Slavery in a polite way”

Domestic servitude, sex trafficking, slavery, child labour, child soldiers, forced migration,
organ trafficking and many other forms of international adoption reflects the practice of
human trafficking. This are the transportation, recruitment, transfer, receipt etc by which the
human beings are exploited, using a variety of illicit means starting from threat and coercion
to fraud, debt bondage and deceptions.
The Counter Trafficking Data Collaborative (CTDC)ii Is the first global data hub on Human
Trafficking with data contributed by different organizations from around the world. At the
present scenario there are 108,613 individual cases of human trafficking all around the world
as per the sources of CTDC Global Dataset,2020 and it also represents a number of 164
countries of exploitation along with 175 Nationalities.
According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) iii the most common
form of human trafficking (79%) is the sexual exploitation are predominantly girls and
women also in 30% of the countries which choose to provide their information on the gender
of traffickers, woman make up the largest proportion of traffickers. In fact, it is very sad to
think about those parts of the world where woman trafficking woman is the norm. The second
most common form of trafficking in human is the forced labour which is 18% although this
might be a misrepresentation as forced labours are less frequently detected in comparison to
sexual exploitations. The reports also represent that worldwide, almost 20 % of all
trafficking victims are children. Most exploitations take place close to home although it
seems to imply to those moving all across the continents.
Regarding the issues of human trafficking, specially where the woman and the girl child are
the victims it does not take a second to understand the horrific scenario of the present
situation that exist in India. A demand driven industry is something that may be called as
trafficking. In India according to the National Crime Records Bureau a child disappears in
every eight minutes as India has a very high volume of child trafficking. It was also seen that
India had 38,503 victims of trafficking in 2011 till 2019.

CAUSES OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN INDIA

 Men migrating to major industrial/commercial sides in search of work.
 Poverty and Economic injustice
 Gender preferences, Corruption as well as Social inequality
 Families living in remote areas sending their kids for better life in terms of education
and safety
 Demands for cheap labour
 Devaluation of womaniv and children make them far more vulnerable to trafficking in
men and many more.

CONSEQUENCES OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING

The victims in the process of trafficking in persons are abused and exploited in certain
conditions which results in short term as well as long-term minor and severe psychological
and physical attacks, diseases especially sexually transmitted diseases or HIV viruses. Such
condition can even lead to the permanent disability of the victim and death. The direct
consequences of human trafficking are, depression, disorientation, aggression, alienation and
difficulties in concentration. Sometimes severe injuries or trauma acquired during the
process of trafficking can last for a long period even after the person has become free from
exploitation and this mainly occurs when the victim is not properly cared. In fact, the
rehabilitation process for the victims cannot be guaranteed for a certain result.

STEPS FOR PREVENTION

Apart from the various constitutional and legislatives measures taken worldwide to combat
Human Trafficking. It can also be prevented in the grassroots if some remarkable ways are
taken, such as educating about the issues of Human Trafficking, studying the indicators of
Human Trafficking, reporting any suspicious behavior relating to it and raising awareness
about the issue.The laws for human trafficking must be strengthened that it meets all the
requirements for preventing human trafficking. People who are in poverty line across the
world must be made aware about human trafficking and its consequences in order to prevent
them from becoming victims. Seminars and symposiums should be conducted across the
world so that the general people and the government can join hands to prevent human
trafficking. The vulnerable sections of the society must be protected by the Government so
that they don’t fall as victims to human trafficking. Most of the victims of the human
trafficking are only the persons who are below the poverty line so the offence of human
trafficking can be greatly prevented if the Government helps the poor sections of the society
and provides them with adequate education and employment.

CONCLUSION

Human Trafficking is one of the worst crimes that has spreaded all over the world making the
lives of millions as worse as hell. The procedures, means and methods as well as the rate of
involvement is increasing in this crime day by day due to lack of resources, few income
options etc. It is thus important to have a careful watch and monitoring mechanisms and
commitments through which we can attempt to clean out this crime worldwide.

REFERENCES
i
United Nations, available at: https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/data-and-
analysis/tip.html#:~:text=Trafficking%20in%20persons%20is%20a,detected%20in
%20124%20countries%20worldwide.&text=The%20percentage%20of%20children
%20among,trafficking%20victims%20in%20the%20world. (Visited on August 2,2020)
ii
Migration Data Portal, available at: https://migrationdataportal.org/themes/human-trafficking
(Last Modified 3July 2020)
iii
United Nations, available at: https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/global-report-
on-trafficking-in-persons.html (Visited on August 3,2020)
iv
Laws News and Network (LAWN) available at: https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-
trafficking/global-report-on-trafficking-in-persons.html (Visited on August2,2020)