Human Trafficking a crime of buying and selling of persons is considered as the second largest crime worldwide. Human trafficking and migrant smuggling are global and widespread crimes that use men, women, and children for profit. The organized networks or individuals behind these lucrative crimes take advantage of people who are vulnerable, desperate, or simply seeking a better life. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) contain Multiple targets that aims to foster regular and safe migration, eradicate human trafficking, and combat Organized crime.
Human Trafficking is the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of people through force, fraud, or deception, with the aim of exploiting them for profit. Men, women, and children of all ages and from all backgrounds can become victims of this crime, which occurs in every region of the world. The traffickers often use violence or fraudulent employment agencies and fake promises of education and job opportunities to trick and coerce their victims.
Human Trafficking is mainly done for forced labor, for forced begging, Child soldier, forced marriage for sexual exploitation and for removal of organs.
The core elements of Human Trafficking are
The Means -How it is done
- Threats
- Force coercion abduction
- Fraud or deception
- Abuse of power
- Inducement for exploitation
The Act -What it is done
- Recruits
- Transports
- Harbors
- Transfers
- Receives
The Purpose -Why it is done
- Exploitation
The two important factors of this crime are Supply factor and Demand factor and both of the contribute to the rise in this crime
Supply factor
- Abject Poverty
- Social Mores – Child marriage, Single/widowed, and abandoned women not accepted in rural communities
- Female illiteracy and lack of access to education by girls
- Male unemployment and loss of family income puts pressure on women to earn
- Natural and manmade calamities and poor rehabilitation puts pressure on women and children to earn
- Dysfunctional families that have difficulty functioning and communicating, especially on emotive issues
- Desertion by one or the other parent, uncared/abandoned kids.
Demand Factors
- Nuclear Families – lowering of family support – live with maids.
- Increased Urbanization plus increasingly both spouses working.
- Declining sex ratio – demand for wives in some States “Paros”
- Rising male migration to urban areas and demand for commercial sex.
- Growth of tourism, which indirectly encourages sex tourism.
To combat the crime of Human Trafficking 3 majors’ components namely 3 Ps play an important role. These 3 Ps are
- Prevention
- Protection
- Prosecution
This crime can be curb when the Government of affecting countries will be more focus on Prevention part . Under this component the Govt. stakeholders and the likeminded NGOs should focus more on prevention part where awareness creation among all the potential victims needs to be done so that they can understand the consequences of this vital crime . Creating awareness and sensitizing communities will develop an alert among those who are at the risk of being Trafficked and the can take preventive measures against trafficking.
Secondly Protection part indicates on the Rescue of victims who are being trafficked by Police and other agencies .
Lastly Prosecution involves the legal action against the perpetrator or the traffickers where the Immoral trafficking Prevention Act 1956 is applied if the accused is found guilty.
Convergence of Stakeholders to combat Human trafficking is a very essential for getting better results. A collaborative action of different stakeholders like NGOs, Social Welfare organizations, Police, Shelter Homes, Labor Department, Education department, Rural Department, Prosecutors, Information & Broadcasting can curb the Human trafficking from the country.
Victims of trafficking can be any age, any gender and from anywhere in the world. According to UNODC’s 2022 Global report on Trafficking in Persons which is compiled using official figures from over 148 countries, female victims continue to be the primary targets.