REVIEW OF WOMEN’S STUDIES
Sex Trafficking and Sex Work: Definitions, Debates
and Dynamics – A Review of Literature
Annie George, U Vindhya, Sawmya Ray
An examination of the present state of knowledge,
discussion and responses to sex trafficking, especially in
India, reveals two polarised stands: that of neo-
abolitionists for whom prostitution equals trafficking
and should be eliminated; and that of neo-regulationists
and other groups for whom trafficking is forced
prostitution, while sex work is a legitimate and willing
form of labour that should be decriminalised or
legalised. Without taking sides, this review of the
literature describes the various arguments that will help
contribute to a better understanding of the issue and
inform the possibility of action.
Annie George (ageorge@icrw.org) is with the International Centre for
Research on Women, Hyderabad, U Vindhya (u.vindhya@gmail.com)
is with the Centre for Economic and Social Studies, Hyderabad and
Sawmya Ray (sawmyaray@gmail.com) is with the Indian Institute of
Technology, Guwahati.
64
S
ex trafficking and sex work are emotive issues about which
much has been written with passion than objectivity be-
cause they touch the core of our beliefs about morality, jus-
tice, gender, and human rights. Societal responses to both should,
ideally, be informed by evidence from empirical research; yet,
little exists in the way of clearly articulated reviews of work done
to address different dimensions of sex trafficking and sex work.
This literature review attempts to close the gap by providing a
clear understanding of the nuanced debates on these issues, not
only from a policy perspective but also from that of sex workers
and pro- and anti-sex work activists.
This literature review examines the current state of know­
ledge, discussion and responses to sex trafficking. It looks at the
definitions, history of international agreements, underlying
causes and interventions in place, especially in India. It elucidates
debate about the meaning of sex trafficking and appropriate anti-
trafficking measures. It does not claim to be exhaustive. The
f­ocus is on India; however because of overlapping factors related
to the patterns and interventions in trafficking in the south Asian
countries, the review includes literature relevant to the region.
Using a variety of electronic bibliographic databases and mul-
tiple search terms such as “human trafficking”, “traffic in women”,
“forced labour” and “sex slavery” the reviewers searched through
relevant studies published in English between 1998 and 2008
and reviewed 107 documents.
Definitions and Magnitude of Trafficking
Despite the extensive literature on the topic, there is still little
consensus on an absolute definition of trafficking, and appropri-
ate measures to combat it. The literature is beset by conflicting
layers of understanding, with trafficking conflated with prostitu-
tion and migration. Trafficking is also defined as acts involving
forced labour, forced marriages, and forced prostitution (United
Nations 2000: 2). However, researchers point out that many of
the anti-trafficking initiatives in south Asia are limited to traf-
ficking into prostitution1 (Pattanaik 2006).
This review focuses on the literature dealing with trafficking
for prostitution and/or sexual exploitation, while outlining its
broader understanding to include forced labour of various kinds.
Trafficking of human beings is an international crime and a
violation of basic human rights (Government of India 2008). Sex
trafficking constitutes one of its major forms in which primarily
women and children are coerced or deceived for the purpose of
commercial sexual exploitation (CSE). Because of the illegal and
clandestine nature of trafficking, assessing its scope is difficult.
april 24, 2010 vol xlv no 17 EPW Economic & Political Weekly

Estimates range widely, with the US department of state’s traf-
ficking in persons (TIP) report 2007 stating that around 8,00,000
women and children are trafficked each year across international
borders; 80% of trafficked persons end up in forced sex work.
The United Nations (UN) estimates the number of trafficking vic-
tims at more than 30 million, with the largest number originat-
ing in Asia, and an estimated 1,50,000 annually in south Asia
alone (ILO 2006). The Indian government’s Ministry of Women
and Child Development (MWCD) estimates the number of persons
trafficked for CSE in India to be around 2.8 million and about
three million prostitutes in the country.
International Instruments on Trafficking
Historically, the term “traffic” was first used at the turn of the
20th century to refer to movement of persons for immoral pur-
poses, e g, prostitution (Howard and Lalani 2008). Until the
1970s concern about trafficking was limited exclusively to prosti-
tution and sexual exploitation (Pearson 2000). In contemporary
literature, trafficking is variously referred to as modern slavery
in the global economy, and as rape for profit that includes forced
labour of various kinds (Bayles 2002). The International Conven-
tion for the Suppression of White Slave Traffic of 1910 was
d­esigned to curb the global trade in women (Farrior 1997). In
1949 the UN advanced the convention for the Suppression of the
Traffic in Persons and the Exploitation of the Prostitution of
o­thers, which for nearly 50 years was the sole international treaty
on trafficking.
The 1949 convention declared prostitution incompatible with
the dignity and worth of the human person (Coomaraswamy
2000; Doezema 2002). Conflating trafficking and prostitution, it
supported the criminalisation of all acts associated with prostitu-
tion and anyone facilitating prostitution – although not prostitu-
tion itself (Doezema 2002; Saunders 2005). To its critics, the 1949
convention did little to protect women or provide remedies for
the human rights violations committed against them, and only
increased their marginalisation and vulnerability. A lull in anti-
trafficking activity lasted until the 1970s when Global North fem-
inist groups revived the anti-trafficking movement, driven by
concerns about sex tourism in south-east Asia, the stationing of
large numbers of US military personnel in bases in the region,
and women crossing borders for prostitution and/or work in the
entertainment industry (Pearson 2000). In Nepal and Bangla-
desh women activists highlighted the cross-border prostitution of
young girls and women who were lured and taken to brothels in
India. In Sri Lanka child sexual exploitation by tourists became a
major issue of concern (Pattanaik 2006).
The creation of the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against
Women (SRVAW) in 1994, and the inclusion of trafficking as a key
area in its purview, broadened this perspective even further, de-
linking trafficking and prostitution. The SRVAW defined traffick-
ing as follows:
Trafficking in persons means the recruitment, transportation, pur-
chase, sale, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons: by threat or
use of violence, abduction, force, fraud, deception or coercion (in-
cluding the abuse of authority) or debt bondage, for the purpose of
placing or holding such person, whether for pay or not, in forced
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REVIEW OF WOMEN’S STUDIES
l­abour of s­lavery like practices, in a community other than the one in
which such person lived at the time of the original act described
(Coomaraswamy 2000).
In a recent review, the Special Rapporteur pointed out that,
although the sex industry was the largest demand sector for traf-
ficking women and children, delinking trafficking from prostitu-
tion and linking it with migration made the human rights of
traffi­cked women the central issue (UN 2009) in anti-trafficking
inter­ventions. Other conceptual shifts in her report included the
consideration of trafficking both as a cross-border and an intra-
country concern. The SRVAW identified common elements in all
trafficking patterns as the lack of consent, brokering of human
beings, transport, and the servile conditions of the work or the
relationship with traffickers.
The Palermo Protocol
The increasing international focus on trafficking culminated in
the adoption of the UN Convention against Transnational Organ-
ised Crime in 2000 supplemented by three protocols, one of
which was the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish
Traffic­king in Persons, especially Women and Children. This pro-
tocol, commonly known as the Palermo Protocol is said to be the
first major international intervention to address trafficking based
on an expanded understanding of the term that included forced
labour (UN 2000: 2).
The international community has accepted the definition
a­rrived at in the Palermo Protocol which defined “trafficking in
persons” as follows:
(a) The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt
of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of
coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power
or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of pay-
ments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control
over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation
should include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution
of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or
services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the
r­emoval of organs.
(b) The consent of a victim of trafficking in persons to the intended
exploitation by means described in subsection (a) above (force, coer-
cion, abduction, fraud or abuse/use of power) shall be irrelevant.
(c) The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of
a child for the purpose of exploitation shall be considered “trafficking
in persons” even if this does not involve any of the means set forth in
subparagraph (a) of this article.
(d) Child shall mean any person less than 18 years of age.
The Palermo Protocol, which came into force in 2004, identi-
fied all trafficked persons as victims of crime (Segrave and
Milivojević 2005), and encompassed within its purview all non-
consensual, economic-exploitative, slavery like conditions and
relations of work and life at any stage in the migration process
(Pearson 2000). The protocol identifies exploitation as the key
actionable element, leaving nation states to deal with contentious
issues such as the definition of sexual exploitation and the legal-
ity of prostitution (Doezema 1998; Raymond 2002).
In south Asia, adoption of the South Asian Association for
R­egional Cooperation (SAARC) Convention on Prevention of
T­rafficking in Women and Children for Prostitution in 2002
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s­ignalled recognition of the growing dimensions of the problem
by the governments in the region. Despite the criticism for
d­efining trafficking solely as sex trafficking (Huda 2006), this
treaty marked the first time the trafficking-prone south Asian
c­ountries agreed to deal with the problem within their own
governmental structures.
Critiques of the Protocol
Although the SRVAW hailed the protocol’s definition of trafficking
as a break from the conservative definition of the 1949 conven-
tion, many groups and authors have still critiqued it for an em-
phasis on law and order at the expense of human rights (Kapur
2007; Saunders 2005).
Some scholars argue that by locating itself within a convention
against transnational crime, the protocol foregrounds the identi-
fication of criminality and victimisation as crucial elements of
trafficking (Doezema 2002). Although the instrument contains
three elements – action (recruitment, transportation, etc), means
(coercion, fraud, etc) and purpose (for exploitation of the prosti-
tution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced
l­abour and so on) (Anderson and Andrijasevic nd), the Palermo
Protocol is an instrument critiqued for being “designed to facili-
tate cooperation between states to combat organised crime,
rather than to protect or give restitution to the victims of crime”
(Segrave and Milivojević 2005: 136).
Critics argue that tight border controls and “lack of legal
rights to mobility…compels marginal and vulnerable groups to
lead underground lives; it may also lead to loss of individual
freedom and enhance the manifold vulnerability to harms such
as trafficking” (Sanghera 2008: 8). Critics also argue that the
Palermo Protocol’s emphasis on sexual exploitation tends to
obscure h­uman trafficking in other forced labour situations
(ILO 2001). Further, the lumping together of women and chil-
dren not only blurs understanding of different forms of traf-
ficking, it infantilises women and portrays them as dependents
without agency and decision-making power (Howard and
L­a lani 2008).
Critics further point to an “intentional ambiguity” in the proto-
col (Jordan 2002). By not defining key terms such as sexual ex-
ploitation, slavery, forced labour and practices similar to slavery
or servitude (Gallagher 2001), the protocol does not prevent gov-
ernments from making their own definitions. They note that
a­nti-trafficking measures in a number of countries that follow
the protocol have led to restrictions on movement and migration
for women, increased surveillance of sex workers, and increased
deportation of migrant sex workers (Coomaraswamy 2001;
Doezema 2002; Gallagher 2001).
Continuing Ideological Debate
The Palermo Protocol was the target of intense lobbying by two
self-proclaimed feminist groups espousing differing views on
prostitution. The neo-abolitionist group viewed trafficking and
prostitution as the same – as forms of gender-based violence and
as violation of women’s human rights (Doezema 2002; Gallagher
2001). The neo-regulationist group considered prostitution as
l­egitimate labour. These two camps continue to hold firm to their
66
own notions of consent and its relevance (Gallagher 2001;
S­egrave and Milivojević 2005).
To better understand these opposing viewpoints, it is useful
to examine the primary legal paradigms for addressing
p­rostitution.
The criminalisation perspective views sex work as a social evil
that should be subjected to penal measures. Some laws framed
around this approach are silent about the legality of prostitution
itself. For instance, Baruah cites India’s 1986 Immoral Trafficking
Prevention Act (ITPA), which criminalises only the outward mani­
festations of sex work such as soliciting, brothel keeping, and
trafficking while at the same time refraining from specifically
targeting the sex worker. On the other hand, the prohibitionist
approach, supported by the neo-abolitionists, seeks to use the
criminalisation of all acts and actors, including the sex worker
herself, to abolish prostitution.
Decriminalisation is based on the view that sex work may be a
personal choice and a private matter between consenting adults.
Distinguishing between trafficking and sex work, this approach
seeks to decriminalise voluntary sex work and all related activi-
ties; forced sex work on the other hand is considered a separate
issue for which existing laws related to trafficking are sought to
be strengthened.
Legalisation is similar to decriminalisation in seeking to ad-
dress prostitution/sex work outside the purview of criminal law.
Unlike decriminalisation, however, it does not distinguish be-
tween trafficked sex workers and those who have entered sex
work through constrained choice. Legalisation advocates support
measures to regulate sex work such as licensing, zoning (segre-
gating sex workers into a separate place), mandatory check-ups
and recognition of sex work as a lawful activity.
The Neo-Abolitionist View
Although the Palermo Protocol does not use the term, “prostitu-
tion” remains a focal point of the controversy. Pivotal to this de-
bate is the notion of consent – whether women can choose prosti-
tution as a profession (Saunders 2005).
Neo-abolitionist feminists believe that sex trafficking and
prostitution are interchangeable, that the issue of consent is
i­rrelevant (Hughes 2000), and that the sex industry should be
entirely eliminated because of its objectification and oppressive
treatment of women. For neo-abolitionists, prostitution is inher-
ently an institution of male domination and exploitation of
women and therefore cannot be given the status of work.
Neo-abolitionists make several arguments to prove the funda-
mental equivalence of sex trafficking and prostitution. Both, they
believe, are part of a system of gender-based domination that
makes violence against women and girls profitable. Both prey on
women and girls made vulnerable by poverty, discrimination and
violence, and leave them traumatised, sick, and impoverished.
Both reward predators sexually and financially, strengthening
the demand and criminal operations that ensure the supply. Pros-
tituted and trafficked women suffer identically: post-traumatic
stress disorder, severe depression, damage to reproductive sys-
tems, damage from sexual assault and beatings, and sexually
transmitted diseases (Leidholdt 2004).
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The Neo-Regulationists
Neo-regulationists believe that trafficking and sex work are dif-
ferent. They view trafficking as forced prostitution involving
coer­cion, deceit and exploitation; and they contend that sex work
is legitimate labour-based on women’s use of their bodies as
sources of income involving their own decision and consent
(Saunders 2005). They point to the argument that women cannot
consent to commercial sexual interactions as one that coincides
all too easily with anti-feminist ideas about female sexuality and
that threatens women’s sexual autonomy.
Agency or Victimhood?
Neo-abolitionists/anti-sex work groups operate within the victim
paradigm, giving women nothing but victimhood and hopeless-
ness and blaming men, traffickers, and the political economy for
the plight of these women. Pro-sex work groups argue that this
victimisation label denies women’s agency, and call for their em-
powerment by approaching the issue from the women’s perspec-
tive, particularly human rights and health perspectives (Bandyo-
padhyay 2008; Doezema 1998; Evans and Bhattarai 2000; Jana
et al 2002; Jayasree 2004; Saunders 2005).
In India, Jayasree (2004), arguing from sex workers’ own re-
ports and experiences, underscores the finding that sex workers
do not accept either criminalisation or victimisation as an option.
Noting the demand of sex worker organisations for decriminali-
sation of sex work, she highlights sex workers’ rights to bodily
inte­grity, pleasure, livelihood, self-determination and a safe
working environment as worthy goals.
Similarly, the Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee (DMSC)
of sex workers, based in Kolkata, is of the view that trafficked
women should not be viewed as passive victims, subjected to ma-
nipulation by others, but as “human agents, who can – and often
do – fight to gain control over their lives” (Jana et al 2002). The
authors argue that a political struggle for the rights of sex work-
ers including their right to self-determination is the most effec-
tive solution to trafficking. The critical element, they argue, is
neither the process through which a person is trafficked, nor the
nature of the work, but rather the outcome of a process that leaves
the person with little or no option to exist.
Criminalise or Legalise?
Because they believe that prostitution more than anything else
is at the root of trafficking, the neo-abolitionists (Weitzer 2007)
lobby for the criminalisation of all actors (pimps, clients,
brothel owners, traffickers) except prostitutes. They oppose
l­egalisation because they believe the disappearance of legal
barriers will remove the social and ethical barriers to treating
women as sexual commodities and serve as a magnet for
i­ncreased sex trafficking. To put an end to sex trafficking, they
insist on legal reforms and strict laws as well as job training,
and assistance and rehabilitation for women who have been
prostituted (Raymond 2002).
The neo-regulationists, on the other hand, call for more effec-
tive and non-discriminatory enforcement of laws, and focus on
participation and promotion of self-representation of those
a­ffected to claim and realise their own interests.
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REVIEW OF WOMEN’S STUDIES
The pro-sex work/pro-legalisation groups argue that there is
no clear evidence of the causal link between legal prostitution
and trafficking. Legal prostitution, they point out, rather than
acting as a magnet attracting illegal migrants into a country, may
help reduce trafficking due to enhanced government regulation
and oversight of the legal sector. Pro-sex work researchers argue
that instead of preventing trafficking, criminalisation will
actually force sex workers underground, making it more difficult
for them to access appropriate services and increasing the likeli-
hood of their exploitation (Howard and Lalani 2008). Legalisa-
tion of sex work, they argue, helps sex workers protect their
rights and helps as well in combating trafficking (Segrave and
Milivojević 2005; Weitzer 2007).
Some Common Ground
Despite intense disagreement between the two positions, some
common ground seems to have emerged. Scholars point out that
both basically agree on the need to address the exploitative
condition inherent in the sex trade and to protect the rights of
women involved in sex work (Evans and Bhattarai 2000). Both
camps agree that vulnerabilities and violations of rights charac-
terise the conditions in which women work selling sex. Further,
the question of whether sex work is voluntary or forced may be
moot, since in reality the distinction between trafficking and
consensual entry may be extremely blurred. As Frederick (1998,
cited in Evans and Bhattarai 2000) contends, the social, familial
and economic circumstances that drive women to choose to en-
ter sex work or to migrate and subsequently end up trafficked
may be the same. Furthermore, even if women enter sex work by
choice, they may not be fully aware of its exploitative nature.
Once in, the forced conditions of work and debt bondage may be
the same as those of trafficked woman, and they may be unable
to get out of the situation. On the other hand, women who have
been trafficked in the first instance may, after some time,
conclude that sex work is a profitable livelihood strategy and
chose to continue. Such arguments show the fuzzy distinction
between trafficked women and those who have entered sex
work on their own.
Recent thinking therefore does not make much of the distinc-
tion between “forced” and “voluntary” sex work and instead,
f­ocuses on getting ahead with anti-trafficking interventions that
respect the human rights and wishes of women in sex work re-
gardless of how they got there (Evans and Bhattarai 2000).
The literature identifies other responses such as networks of
sex workers themselves, for example, the Network of Sex Work
Projects (Saunders 2005), that challenge both the usefulness of
the trafficking concept to describe the conditions of migrating
sex workers and the free-versus-forced distinction made by the
neo-regulationists. For sex worker collectives, the central issues
revolve around identity, rights, working conditions, decriminali-
sation and legitimacy (Kempadoo and Doezema 1998). This per-
spective has led to lobbying efforts to define trafficking in terms
of internationally recognised and legally translatable elements of
forced labour, slavery and servitude. It uses strategies such as
a­ccepting sex work as a legitimate occupation, increasing the
range of choices of women in prostitution by increasing access to
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resources, training, and the like; mobilising and organising sex
workers for self-representation and participation at all levels in-
cluding policy formation; and creation of working conditions
considered to be empowering.
Arguing for a separation of sex work from sex trafficking, the
alternative framework also includes paying attention to the voices
of women trafficked for sex. Proponents argue that an exclusive
focus on trafficking as a crime serves to reinforce notions of pas-
sive victimisation and obfuscates the strategies that women use
for survival, as well as the ways in which they exercise their agency
and resistance. Scholars are of the view that engaging with women’s
narratives can take the debate forward (Segrave and Milivojević
2005) and importantly, can allow examining of issues like the ex-
tent to which legislation introduced to “protect” women can re-
strict women’s migration opportunities, thereby actually leading
to counteractive results for women (Coomaraswamy 2003).
Examples from India
The ideological debates on whether sex work should be consid-
ered as work have resonated in discourses of Indian scholars as
well. Kapur (2001) for instance, shows that debates on trafficking
in India have centred on the issue of prostitution – whether pros-
titution constitutes violence against women and contradicts
I­ndian cultural values, and whether the women involved are vic-
tims of sexual exploitation, incapable of choosing to engage in
sex work. Gangoli (2007) notes that feminist groups in India have
addressed the issue of prostitution in essentially three broad
ways – (a) keeping silent over the issue given the primary focus of
feminists in India on heterosexual monogamy within the context
of marriage; (b) viewing prostitution through the prism of coer-
cion, violence and victimhood particularly with reference to child
prostitution, and rejecting the argument of sex work as labour;
and (c) holding sex work as a matter of choice and identity as
a­rgued by sex worker collectives such as the DMSC and critiquing
the “rehabilitating urge” of policymakers and feminists.
Sathyamala and Priya (2006) compare Nalini Jameela’s The
Autobiography of a Sex Worker with an earlier narrative of Ram-
amirthathammaiyar, a woman who rebelled against the devadasi
tradition in the 1930s, and point to the articulation of a range of
approaches by the women involved from one of total rejection to
glorification of sex work as an occupation “like any other”. Citing
examples of pro-sex worker projects including the Sthree Shakti
AIDS Nivarana Sangam (SSANS) in Andhra Pradesh, that works to
reduce trafficking in women and to campaign against child traf-
ficking, the authors suggest that SSANS’ aim to bring about re-
forms within the occupation leaves unquestioned the underlying
structures that create conditions for trafficking.
Disagreeing with this position and relying on the personal re-
ports and experiences of sex workers, Jayasree (2004: 58) argues
that sex workers “are not victims without agency”. She attributes
the perpetuation of sex work to the clients’ failure of sexual fulfil-
ment in other relationships as well as to sex workers’ lack of
a­ccess to other work. Similarly, others argue that trafficked
women should be viewed not as passive victims manipulated by
others, but as “human agents, who can – and often do – fight to
gain c­ontrol over their lives” (Jana, Bandyopadhyay, Dutta and
68
Saha 2002). They state that a political struggle for the rights of
sex workers including their right to self-determination is the most
effective solution and that the most critical element of trafficking
is not the process through which a person is trafficked, nor the
nature of the work, but rather the outcome of the process that
leaves the person with little or no option to exit.
Migration and Movement of Women for Work
Some authors have recognised the linkages between trafficking
and migration (Butcher 2003; Sanghera 1999). Both originate in
the pressing need to migrate in search of work that creates a fer-
tile ground for traffickers and unscrupulous agents ready to ex-
ploit and profit from this need (Butcher 2003; Sanghera 2000).
However, trafficking, as currently understood, involves some ele-
ment of involuntariness through deception, or force, whereas
i­llegal migration often occurs with the free cooperation of the
i­llegal migrant. In illegal migration, as in prostitution, “agency”
and “voluntariness” of the migrant population or individual are
i­mportant themes (Bandyopadhyay 2008). According to propo-
nents of this perspective, trafficking can be identified as one pos-
sible outcome of the transversal migration process and one form
of “clandestine cross-border economic activity” (Segrave and
Milivojević 2005). These groups thus have made concerted e­fforts
to break with the formulation that equates prostitution, traffick-
ing, migration and violence against women.
Insisting that victimisation is the hallmark of all trafficking
and prostitution, neo-abolitionists have consistently tried to
erase the distinction among prostitution, migration and sex t­ra­
fficking, especially the distinction between coercive trafficking
and voluntary migration (Weitzer 2007). Pro-sex work groups
argue that migration is a complex process ranging from highly
coercive and exploitative to informed consent and intentio­nality.
They emphasise that considering all women who migrate for sex
work as trafficked is mistaken as well as d­ifficult to determine.
In addition, there have been recent attempts to view traffick-
ing as an interaction between “gender, immigration, economics
and globalisation” (Berman 2003: 58). Scholars maintain that the
same processes giving rise to gendered migration flows are ac-
companied by increasing coercion and exploitation of women’s
bodies and the movement of women’s bodies – with or without
their consent – as a source of profitable incomes (Segrave and
Milivojević 2005).
This lack of a clear distinction between trafficking and migra-
tion has important implications. The curbing of migration to pre-
vent trafficking by policymakers often results in what some view
as simplistic and unrealistic solutions. Such policies, however,
lead to gender discrimination whereby, in the name of protec-
tion, many women and girls are dissuaded from moving. These,
in turn, lead to restrictions on women’s free movement, access to
equal job opportunities and a chance to improve their life condi-
tions (Aghatise 2004; Jana et al 2002; Joffres et al 2008; Sangh-
era and Kapur 2000).
Rejecting the conflation of migration with trafficking, the UN
SRVAW (Coomaraswamy 2000:8) writes:
At the core of any trafficking definition must be the recognition that
trafficking is never consensual. It is the non-consensual nature of
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t­rafficking that distinguishes trafficking from other forms of migra-
tion. The lack of informed consent must not be confused with the ille-
gality of certain forms of migration. While all trafficking is, or should
be, illegal, all illegal migration is not trafficking. It is important to re-
frain from collapsing the concepts of trafficking and illegal migration.
From the above it appears that trafficking is not the movement
or site of work per se, or its purpose; it is the combination of brok-
ering, lack of consent and exploitative working conditions. Traf-
ficking in women must then be understood within the continuum
of their migrations. All persons, including women, have a funda-
mental right to freedom of movement and mobility, and this right
must not be compromised. Trafficking is a crime because of the
elements of abuse and the violations that are committed against
women, not because of the movement or mobility per se (Sangh-
era and Kapur 2000).
Causes and Effect of Trafficking
Structural causes of trafficking are a complex process of linkages
between poverty and gender discrimination, globalisation, cul-
ture, migration and feminisation of poverty that increase the vul-
nerability of women and girls, stimulating push factors and de-
mand in specific sectors.
Poverty and Gender Discrimination
The combination of poverty and gender discrimination is fre-
quently cited as a major reason for trafficking (Bandyopadhyay
2004; CAC-Nepal 2001; ILO 2001; Jayasree 2004; Sarkar 2008;
Sen 2006). People seeking income willingly and without under-
standing the consequences often follow promises of employment
or sell family members (Aengst 2001; CAC-Nepal 2001; Crawford
and Kaufman 2008; ILO 2001; Jayasree: 2004; Manohar 2002).
The lack of economic alternatives for women and ingrained cul-
tural beliefs regarding gender roles make them particularly vul-
nerable to trafficking. Discriminatory laws depriving women of
landownership and the right to inheritance makes them suscepti-
ble to the lure of traffickers’ promises of a better life elsewhere.
Lack of education among women and girls, particularly in the
poorer and more tradition-bound parts of the world, not only de-
nies them opportunities for earning, it leaves them ill-informed,
illiterate and ignorant of the risks of migration to unknown re-
gions. Owing to the cultural preference for male children in south
Asia, girls are seen as an additional economic burden that only
makes them more vulnerable.
Structural Causes
The UN’s SRVAW identifies the responsibility of governments
which, “by failure to protect and promote women’s civil, political,
economic and social rights, create situations in which trafficking
takes place.” (Coomaraswamy 2000: 19). This statement refers to
many situations ranging from globalisation to promotion of sex
tourism as a development strategy, gender-based discrimination,
armed conflict, complicity and corruption of government author-
ities, and religious and cultural practices (Paul and Hasnath
2000; Pearson 2000; Surana nd; Roby 2005).
Globalisation among economies in transition in several Asian
countries has led to a rapid growth of the informal labour sector,
Economic & Political Weekly EPW april 24, 2010 vol xlv no 17
REVIEW OF WOMEN’S STUDIES
unregulated work in factories and export-processing zones. This,
in turn, has led to increased vulnerabilities and coercive working
conditions. Scholars point out that recent trends in globalisation,
in the south Asian context in particular, have led to erosion of the
traditional family structures with each member of the family
b­ecoming a separate and independent unit of labour to be plugged
into the modern labour market (Sanghera 1999).
Viewing the persistence and increase of trafficking in south Asia,
the Asian Development Bank (ADB) (2003) calls attention to the
link between changes that come with modernisation and vulnera-
bility to trafficking. These changes include the movement of rural
populations to cities as traditional livelihoods erode, and the ex-
clusion of people from the development process resulting in their
migrating to meet basic needs. However, the most commonly iden-
tified supply, factor, according to this source is poverty, including
its non-economic elements. This is the lack of human and social
capital accompanied by gender discrimination that pushes the
most vulnerable people simultaneously to marginalisation and
trafficking. Other factors include media images and stories that
entice many into migrating under ill-informed and risky circum-
stances. Researchers have also indicated that the current context
of HIV/AIDS has driven opportunistic traffickers to supply girls,
sometimes as young as 10 or 11 years old, to clients since young
girls are perceived as virgins and AIDS-free (Aengst 2001).
Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) outlined the root
causes of trafficking ranging from disparities of wealth and per-
vasive class and caste inequalities to poor enforcement of inter-
nationally agreed-upon human rights standards and profits
a­ccruing from the trafficking trade (Sinha 2006). In recent years
the erosion of border barriers due to globalisation, technology
and improved communication is believed to have inadvertently
facilitated trafficking networks in India (DWCD 2006). Other
studies provide further support to the linkages between traffick-
ing and gendered vulnerabilities. Madhusudana (nd) for i­nstance,
shows that early marriage, and incumbent health risks of early
childbearing are additional drivers of trafficking.
Supply and Demand
D’Cunha (2002) holds the skewed processes of socio-economic
and political development responsible for the supply and demand
side of trafficking. On the supply side she points to heightened
gendered development processes that marginalise women from
education and employment, enhance gender inequalities and
feminisation of poverty, dysfunctional families that include vio-
lence against women, and the need of many young women to es-
cape from their disproportionate burden and tedium of house-
hold and family care.
Fuelling demand are factors like the development of certain
feminised economic sectors such as the sex industry and domestic
work that is largely based on male-centred assumptions of sex as a
male right and as a commodity to be purchased; discriminatory
sociocultural practices such as the bride trade leading to new
forms of trafficking like the mail-order-bride system; and poor
governance structures resulting in trafficking becoming a low risk
and high profit enterprise (D’Cunha 2002). Resear­chers also cite
the reported preference of clients for sex workers whose ethnic
69
REVIEW OF WOMEN’S STUDIES
or racial identities are different from their own as a major factor
for sex trafficking of girls from Nepal to India (Fichtl 2003).
Economic Reforms in India
Although India is a destination country for women and girls from
Nepal and Bangladesh, a major part of India’s sex trafficking is
internal (Kapur 2001). Some scholars point to the recent neolib-
eral economic reforms like those of the World Trade Organisation
and related policies that have triggered a rural crisis (Shah 2006).
This led to a collapse of farm credit and markets, withdrawal of
subsidies, decline in the sustainability of agricultural work, and
large-scale rural displacement, with consequent spillover of
l­egions of migrant workers into urban centres. Increased traffick-
ing can be traced to the particular effects of these economic
d­evelopments on women and children from landless labour,
small farmer or lower caste backgrounds in particular (Cockburn
2006; Parker 2006; Shah 2006; Sharma 2007).
Family and Domestic Violence
Studies from Nepal and India have also indicted the role of family
and community members in trafficking (Fichtl 2003; Silverman
et al 2007; Sharma 2007). Factors include violence by husbands
and/or other family members, marital separation or abandon-
ment, with the interaction of poverty and gender-based mistreat-
ment (Parker 2006; Silverman et al 2007).
Traffickers are often family members, both immediate and dis-
tant (Aengst 2001; Manohar 2002; Sarkar 2008). Trafficking takes
place in the guise of false employment or marriage-brokering, as
well as the direct selling of children into prostitution by their fami-
lies (Aengst 2001). Women who face discrimination within their
family and are often ill-treated or subjected to domestic violence
are also easy victims for traffickers. Orphan children, especially
girls, single and divorced women, and widows are highly vulnera-
ble to trafficking as, being dependent on their families for support,
they are often considered a burden (Sen and Nair 2004).
Armed Conflict and Disasters
Another group of vulnerable women and girls are those in refu-
gee camps who may have fled their country to escape armed con-
flict. The same is true of women and girls who are internally dis-
placed either because of internal strife or mega-development
projects. Calamity-stricken areas hit by earthquakes, floods,
c­yclones and other natural disasters also draw traffickers who
promise attractive jobs and income if the women and girls mi-
grate to urban areas from the calamity-stricken area where the
economy has been disrupted (Manohar 2002).
To sum up the preceding discussion, the complexities and com-
monalities in trafficking in south Asia refer to the globalisation
processes that have increased the vulnerabilities of people with
trafficking being the outcome of a mismatch between demand
and supply conditions in the global market. Research points to
increasing unemployment, breakdown of existing livelihood op-
tions due to economic and political instabilities, and changes in
trade regimes impacting employment patterns in developing
countries. Issues of gender, caste and class dimensions play clear
roles in defining vulnerabilities and economic aspects like
70
p­overty and breakdown of livelihood options need to be located
within the contextual reality of harm which has different impacts
on gender, age, caste and class (Baruah nd).
Sex Worker Perspective
In contrast to the wide-ranging explanations responsible for traf-
ficking, studies based on voices and experiences of sex workers
offer a different perspective. The DMSC believes that it is not pov-
erty alone but the need to improve lives and seek better opportu-
nities that drive women to other places. Jana et al (2002) observe
that the realignment of social and cultural relations and radical
changes in the labour market, owing primarily to the globalisa-
tion process, have motivated more and more women hitherto re-
stricted to the home now to seek alternative livelihood options.
Similarly, research on women of the devadasi system of sex work
in Karnataka (Orchard 2007) finds that they present themselves
not as frightened victims of parental or systemic violence, but
rather as women who do their work out of a sense of filial duty,
economic need and because doing sex work is incorporated into
their models of female maturity.
The Indian State’s Response
The government of India has initiated various laws, policies and
programmes to combat trafficking (Government of India 2008).
It needs to be mentioned here that there are few available and
objective studies conducted by an outsider on the effectiveness of
these interventions.
Legislative and Law-Enforcement Strategies
The Immoral Traffic Prevention Act: The ITPA (earlier known as
the Suppression of Immoral Traffic in Women and Girls Act) be-
came law in 1956 as part of the government’s fulfilment of its obli-
gations as a signatory to the 1949 UN Suppression of Traffic Con-
vention. Though largely informed by this instrument, critics point
out that in many situations the government policy has seemed to
be at odds with the UN convention, by seeking to regulate prostitu-
tion rather than to prohibit it (Kapur 2001). It criminalises the
selling, procuring and exploiting of any person for sex work; it
prescribes severe penalties for trafficking and brothel owners, and
supports rescue and rehabilitation schemes for sex workers.
The ITPA has been criticised on a number of counts (Misra,
M­ahal and Shah 2000) and in response, the government has re-
drafted it raising the age of a child from 16 to 18 years, deleting
sections that re-victimise the victims, and providing in-camera court
proceedings to safeguard privacy of the victims. It has adopted the
definition of trafficking from the Palermo Protocol, and calls for
enhanced punishment for traffickers, brothel keepers, pimps and
persons who visit brothels for commercial sexual exploitation. It
also provides for setting up of centre and state nodal authorities
for coordination, investigation, rescue, rehabilitation, judicial sup-
port, research and training (Government of India 2008).
In 2006, the Ministry of Home Affairs established anti-trafficking
offices called Anti-Human Trafficking Units (AHTUs) responsible
for analysing data, identifying causes, monitoring actions by
state governments and meeting with state-level law enforcement
april 24, 2010 vol xlv no 17 EPW Economic & Political Weekly

agencies to check human trafficking across national and state
borders (Government of India 2008).
Restrictive Migration Laws
The government of India has enacted emigration rules with a
minimum age restriction of 30 years for women to migrate to
other countries as household service workers. The rules require
employment contracts between employer and worker; they pre-
scribe minimum wages and require prepaid fare to return home
provided to each household service worker (Government of India
2008). Human rights groups view such laws as discriminating
against women and violating the fundamental human right to
mobility and access to livelihood. Restrictive laws, they argue,
aggravate the vulnerability of women to trafficking because
without legal options they invariably depend on the illicit options
offered by traffickers (Aghatise 2004; Jana et al 2002). Given the
conditions prevailing in India where women are forced to start
earning for themselves and their family early in life (often when
they are still minors), an age restriction of 30 years is counterpro-
ductive and likely to lead to illegal migration (Joffres et al 2008).
Those who support more flexible migration laws argue that ac-
cess to legitimate avenues of migration would reduce the risk of
entrapment by a trafficker (Jana et al 2002; Joffres et al 2008).
They explain that the prime motivating factor impelling move-
ment from villages to cities and to other countries is the aspira-
tion to improve life conditions. People who cannot migrate l­egally
will resort to illegal mechanisms controlled by large, organi­sed
criminal networks with the resources and wherewithal to bypass
strict state border control and traffic.
Programmatic Interventions
The government is implementing a number of schemes to protect
vulnerable persons, especially women and children from traf-
ficking (Government of India 2008). The Integrated Plan of
A­ction, drawn up by several government agencies including the
Ministry of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Home
Affairs, National Human Rights Commission and National Com-
mission for Women, has suggested a series of action points for the
elimination of trafficking and protection of victims’ human
rights. These include studying emerging areas of concern and
their patterns and trends; special measures to identify traffick-
ers, and to rescue, rehabilitate and reintegrate victims especially
in brothel-based and street-based prostitution with special focus
on children and cross-border trafficking (Ministry of Women and
Child Development 2007).
Despite criticisms of India’s anti-trafficking initiatives for fol-
lowing law and order over human rights approaches, researchers
have also recognised its prevention interventions that focus on
promoting public awareness and eliminating underlying causes
as important (Kapur 2001). These strategies aim to build eco-
nomic empowerment of women in vulnerable areas through pro-
viding economic safety nets, community-based initiatives and al-
ternative sources of sustainable livelihoods for poor and margin-
alised families. They also include building industrial projects in
traditional areas to prevent male migration and the creation of a
demand zone for sex workers; education to improve girls’ status;
Economic & Political Weekly EPW april 24, 2010 vol xlv no 17
REVIEW OF WOMEN’S STUDIES
and public awareness and sensitisation campaigns on trafficking
and human rights violations (Manohar 2002).
Ujjawala: In 2007 the government launched Ujjawala, a compre-
hensive scheme to prevent trafficking and awareness raising and
sensitisation of key functionaries through community vigilance.
Another component of Ujjawala is to rescue and rehabilitate
trafficking victims. It aims to ensure their safe withdrawal from
the place of exploitation and to provide them with shelter, food,
clothing, counselling, medical care, legal aid, vocational train-
ing and income generation activities. It also aims to provide
cross-border victims safe repatriation to their countries of origin.
Dhaliwal (1997), Jana et al (2002) and Jayasree (2004) say that
most interventions relating to rescue and rehabilitation either
criminalise or victimise sex workers. They cite trafficked women
who complain that rehabilitation generally violates the right to
freedom of movement and occupation subjects them to sexual
v­iolence, leaves them financially destitute and more vulnerable
to trafficking.
Swaadhar Homes: The government (Government of India 2008)
runs 380 short-stay and 240 “Swaadhar” homes for women in dif-
ficult circumstances. Critics say that Swaadhar homes are corrupt,
re-victimise rescued women instead of providing safety for them,
and treat inmates as “impure” and/or infantilise women rather than
recognise their agency (Bandyopadhyay 2008; Jayasree 2004).
Dhaliwal (1997) writes that protective homes operated by state
governments suffer from serious gaps: once incarcerated, a woman
has no right to privacy or bodily integrity; she is subjected to inva-
sive medical examinations and inquiries into her personal back-
ground. The conditions in corrective and protective homes have been
documented and judged barely habitable (Coomaraswamy 2000).
Child Hot Lines: The government has in place a 24-hour tele-
phone service with a toll-free number whose basic objectives are
to respond to the emergency needs of the children in difficulty
and provide referral services.
Information System Database: The government has installed a
Human Trafficking Management Information System (HTMIS)
that provides a format for enforcement agencies to collect data on
trafficked victims and traffickers (Government of India 2008).
Despite government claims of active anti-trafficking pro-
grammes, the US Office to Combat and Monitor Trafficking in
Persons (TIP) has placed India on the tier 2 watch list for failure to
provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat trafficking
(USDOS 2008). Some of the critical challenges identified by the
report are the lack of punishment of traffickers, inadequate
e­fforts to protect victims through comprehensive services such as
psychological counselling from trained counsellors, and the lack
of ratification of the 2000 Palermo Protocol (USDOS 2008).
NGO and Sex Worker Programmes
Besides state policies and programmes, NGOs and sex worker col-
lectives undertake anti-trafficking interventions. These initia-
tives are wide-ranging including livelihood training and savings
71
REVIEW OF WOMEN’S STUDIES

(UNODC 2008; Manohar 2002); and awareness rising about sex
trafficking and rescue/rehabilitation measures (Government of
India 2008; Jana et al 2002: UNODC 2008). The HIV/AIDS crisis
has sparked increased attention to sex workers. The expansion of
funded health and AIDS programming targeting sex workers
threw the trafficking debate vis-à-vis sex work into the open and
forced a sharper focus (Shah 2006). Sex trafficking is identified
as one of the factors furthering the heterosexual spread of HIV/
AIDS (Gajic-Veljanoski and Stewart 2007). As a result, recent years
have seen the development of and increase in intervention pro-
grammes targeting sex workers as an important way to deal with
sexual transmission of HIV/AIDS and to enable the workers to ne-
gotiate safer sexual contacts. Critics of these interventions say
they neither take into consideration the sex workers’ rights to
healthcare, access to education or entitlement to safe and non-
exploitative working conditions nor account for the gendered in-
equalities prevalent in society and wrongly target women and
sex workers to maintain sexual safety (Kapur 2001; Poudel and
Carryer 2000; Patkar and Patkar nd).
collectives can exert their power to remove or “rescue” traf-
ficked women from unscrupulous brothel owners and pimps.
Bandyopadhyay (2008), Jana et al (2002), and Kapur (2007)
write that in most cases, trafficked women are counselled and
sent back to their homes or, when they are under 18, to board-
ing schools. Yet, countering the claims of the self-regulatory
boards, NGOs like Sanlaap point to the presence of minors in
Sonagachi (Dhar 2000). Cornish and Ghosh (2007) point out
that despite the increasing prominence of sex workers’ inter-
ests and leadership, such collectives have to necessarily de-
pend upon the inputs of development professionals and fund-
ing agencies and accommodate non-sex worker interest groups.
Bandyopadhyay (2008) and Jana et al (2002) posit that preva-
lent ideological positions and practices of local and interna-
tional NGOs also pose a challenge to sex workers’ anti-traffick-
ing efforts: it arises from ideological differences and a conflict
of interest as NGOs fear redundancy if sex workers’ organisa-
tions continue to develop confidence to implement interven-
tion a­c tivities themselves.

Collectivisation of Sex Workers: Spreading HIV/AIDS in India Conclusions

brought increasing attention of both the state and NGOs to sex
workers (Cornish and Ghosh 2007). Early attempts to develop
HIV-prevention activities were based on a rehabilitation model
and attempts to eliminate prostitution (O’Neil et al 2004). How-
ever, stiff resistance to this kind of model from power brokers
such as brothel owners and agents led to the development of
peer-education and outreach initiatives such as the DMSC in Kolk-
ata (Jana et al 2002), the BIRDS in Karnataka (O’Neil et al 2004),
and Sangram in Maharashtra (Misra et al 2000). These groups
started organising sex workers into collectives and attempted to
provide alternative income generation, and other skills necessary
for child-rearing and family stability (O’Neil et al 2004).
DMSC Self-Regulatory Boards: In 1998 the DMSC initiated the
formation of self-regulatory boards to stop the trafficking of
women and children into sex work in Kolkata. Bandyopadhyay
(2008) claims that self-regulatory boards are well placed to
stop sex trafficking because sex workers are able to identify
trafficking cases more easily than outsiders and sex worker
The literature reviewed exhibits a persistent presence of two po-
larised stands: that of neo-abolitionists for whom prostitution
equals trafficking and should be eliminated; and that of neo-­
regulationists and other groups who argue that trafficking is
forced prostitution, while sex work is a legitimate and willing
form of labour that should be decriminalised or legalised.
It raises some practical questions. Does criminalising prostitu-
tion help to put traffickers out of business or does it criminalise,
punish and further endanger trafficking victims? Does legalising
sex work protect women’s rights or attract increased sex busi-
nesses and demand? Do well-intended government restrictive
laws and policies actually help to reduce trafficking or simply re-
strict the free movement and rights and earning capacity of
w­orking women?
This review neither takes a specific position nor provides an-
swers. It does, however, describe various positions that would
hopefully contribute to a better understanding of the issue and
inform the possibility of action through a deeper look at the com-
plexities, nuances and consequences.

Note
1 In references to “prostitution” or “sex work”, this
review follows throughout the terminology used
in the literature under discussion.
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73
 Resources on Women’s Studies from SAGE
This is an insightful historical work
on borders and bordered existences,
with special emphasis on the gender
dimensions of these existences. The
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2010 / 300 pages / Rs 650 (cloth)
Prostitution and Beyond offers a
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critique. ...I highly recommend [the book]
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Asian Journal of Women’s Studies
2008 / 372 pages / Rs 420 (paper)
www.sagepub.in
Los Angeles n London n New Delhi
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Gender Discrimination in Land
Ownership is an in-depth analysis of
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They examine the diverse ways in which
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The Financial Express
Land Reforms in India, Volume XI
2009 / 352 pages / Rs 795 (cloth)
This book is a contribution to the
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The Book Review
The book indeed is a revelation about
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2009 / 220 pages / Rs 550 (cloth)
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[The author] with her sustained
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Elaben Bhatt, founder of India’s
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2009 / 288 pages / Rs 595 (paper)
The book is a commendable effort...
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Business World
2009 / 268 pages / Rs 495 (cloth)
april 24, 2010 vol xlv no 17
Women, Gender and Disaster examines
gender within the context of disaster
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2010 / 404 pages / Rs 850 (cloth)
Bearing the Brunt is a disturbing
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Civil Society
2009 / 264 pages / Rs 550 (cloth)
EPW Economic & Political Weekly