National Commission for Women in Prevention of Trafficking in Women

   “ To deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity.- Nelson Mandela”

Introduction

It’s a basic right to live life with dignity and have rights protected. However, since time immemorial, the plight of women has not changed. They have always suffered from violence, aggression, discrimination, exploitation etc. In ancient history, women is treated and glorified as Hindu deity or goddess. However, the point of fact is that this glorification is found to be mere mythical.

Indian women are long suppressed and dominated by patriarchal society. They’re forced to follow rigid and obscene customs. There are varieties of crimes committed against a woman, at the time of birth or even before birth.

One such crime is trafficking. It is a serious crime and grave violation of human rights. Human trafficking in India is unlawful however it still poses a major threat and remains a significant problem.

Meaning of Trafficking

Trafficking is the illegal trade. Human trafficking is understood as trading of humans. Trafficking can occur in a country or might involve movement across borders. Women, men and children are trafficked for various purposes together with forced and exploitative labourers in factories, farms and personal households, forced marriage and sexual exploitation. Prostitution is alleged to be the oldest among professions in world of individuals and is rampant throughout the globe.

It is generally understood that whenever the term Trafficking comes it understands in the parameter of prostitution only, but it does not mean prostitution. It would not be wrong to say that it should be delinked from prostitution.[1]

Art.3, paragraph (a) of UN Trafficking in Persons Protocol states that trafficking in persons: Shall mean 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 payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall 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.[2]

Sex trafficking is the exploitation of women and children, inside national or across international-borders, for the purpose forced sex-work. Commercial sexual exploitation includes sex trafficking, prostitution, pornography of women and girls, and is characterized by exploitation of an individual in exchange for money or goods. Some exploitation is highly visible, such as the street prostitution however several trafficking victims remain unseen. Adult women make the largest cluster of sex-trafficking victims, followed by girl children and also a small number of men and boys are trafficked into the sex business as well.

Nature and extent of trafficking

Trafficking in persons is one of the worst forms of crime in modern day civilization. Globally more than 20.9 million people are its victims, majority of them being girls and women susceptible to sexual exploitation.[3]

Women trafficking has become a very important issue transcending borders, which is affecting countries all over the globe. They’re being trafficked for various purposes that are derogative in nature. With the increasing use of recent information technologies particularly the web this downside has altogether gained a new dimension.

Mostly women fall prey for trafficking but even children and even men of varying ages fall prey to this crime. Anyone can be a human trafficker. He can work alone or with a small or a large group. Frequently traffic is someone that the victim knows on a personal basis, such as a family member, friend, our community member.[4] Poverty and economic deprivation; the gap between the wealthy and poor among countries and between totally different regions has particularly made women vulnerable or prone to trafficking.

Women as a victim of trafficking: Prey of the business

Trafficking is solely exploitation of vulnerability. Structural causes of trafficking is a complex method of linkages between economic condition and gender discrimination, culture, globalisation, migration and feminisation of economic condition that increase vulnerability of women and girls, stimulating push factors and demand in specific sectors. The traffickers take advantages of this vulnerability and lure them solve their issues. These victims are secure and are promised work in domestic or industry however instead are sometimes taken to brothels.

What makes women vulnerable to Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation?

The root cause for human trafficking in India can be better explained in part by gender- based discrimination, which in turn responsible for the deaths of thousands of girls under the age of five years in each year. It would not be wrong to mention here that, this gender-based discrimination is a kind of cultural norm in India, because sons are always given more preference and considered as most useful for the family as the girl child. One more very important fact is that because of this gender-based discrimination in India a social structure favors more males over females.[5]

Poverty is termed as the catalyst for sexual exploitation of women. Traffickers search for vulnerable individuals because they are easier to exploit.

But poverty is not only reason behind this heinous crime. Further, to understand the causes, it is necessary to check the nature and scope of the trafficking in human beings. The trafficking in women takes place for various reasons; with the development of globalization, trafficking in women has summed a new dimension. Trafficking is not confined only to sexual exploitation but also branched as various forms[6] The following are the reasons for increasing for women and young girl trafficking in India. They are:-

1. Forced marriage:

It is famed reality that there’s a gradual decrease in sex ratio in different part of the country for instance states like Rajasthan, Haryana and others who have given rise to uncommon problem of trafficking of women. Further, it is seen that, trafficking just in case the poor women marrying to a wealthy person in the name of temporary marriages. It is evident from the ages to these days that, women ought to bear a male child and therefore the women who do not conform to such things get killed.

It is rightly to be noted here that, girls and women are not only trafficked for prostitution but also bought and sold like commodity in many regions, where female ration is less as compared to male due to female infanticide later, they are forced to marry.[7]

2. Begging:

Forced begging is also a kind of human trafficking in India. Children and women are also constrained to beg in public places. Many traffickers use disabled persons to earn wealth.[8]

3. Bonded labour:

Both boys and girls are sold for this purpose and generally not paid for years. Victims of human trafficking have great chances of suffering from issues like mental disorders, depression and anxiety. Women forced into sexual trafficking have at higher risk of getting affected from HIV and other STDs.[9]

Further, when this issue is looked by the angle of supply and demand factors, the growth of the trafficking can identify some of the causes of trafficking. Such causes are categorized into different aspects of life such as socio-cultural, economic and political.[10]

They are:

1. Poverty: It is one amongst the major issue in the trafficking of human industry. The helpless condition of the victims provides ample scope towards traffickers to lure the victims.
2. War Factor: A large range of individuals who have lost their families in war are induced to trafficking. Even the armed conflict result in gross shifting of individuals.
3. Political Environment: which includes political business, militarism and violence increase in the ill treatment and abuse via trafficking and forced labour.
4. Migration: Migration is the movement by folks from one place to another with an objective mind. Once people take irregular means for migration, they’re simply victimized or ill-used by human traffickers that poses a great danger to kids and women in particular. Migrants from Bangladesh trafficked and sold-out for prostitution or forced labor.
5. Social and cultural practices: Most of the girls and women are usually exploited and abused because of social and cultural practices and are forced to live in risky condition. They’re more susceptible to human trafficking as they get very little chance of upward mobility. In our society a single mother, divorced women, unmarried, widow and sexually abused young women and girls are simple prey to the traffickers because of the social stigma.

Other causes:

1. Economic causes:

Under this economic cause we will find economic difference, Land Reform-Large scale agriculture, resource gabbing, food security, mechanization of agriculture, Wage and labour repression- state, good job, descent job with no dignity, labour binding agreements, temperature change and environmental degradation: Rising water level, drought, flood, deforestation, commercial over fishing, mining, commoditization of nature and Expenses of providing required benefits to regular employed workers etc.

2. Political and legal causes:

With regard to political and legal, following are the causes, Corruption- Organized crime, border controls, Increased militarization-Arm conflict , resource curse in extractives, refugees, Legal-Access to justice, rule of law, statelessness, A lack of anti-trafficking legislation.

National Commission for Women

The main intention for the establishment of the National Commission for Women was to ensure equal livelihood for women by making constitutional amendments and laws that favour them. The commission was formed to prevent any kind of violence or exploitation against women. Women are vulnerable and the problems faced by them are numerous and such a commission was established to resolve such issues concerning their rights. It is the state necessity to set up such commissions to address the grievances of women in the country. Keeping in mind the interest of all the National Commission for Women Bill 1990 was introduced in the Lok Sabha.[11]

The National Commission for Women was formed in 1992 under the National Commission Act 1990. It is a commission having the authority to review constitutional safeguards for women in the country. The main recommendation of the commission is to facilitate redressal mechanisms and also to take legislative measures to curb the disparity. It provides the government with advice to make policies and laws that are more prone to protect and safeguard the rights of women. The commission also has the powers that are vested upon with a civil court. On 31^st January 1992, the first commission was constituted and was chaired by Jayanti Patnaik. The first male member in the NCW (National Commission for women) was Alok Rawat IAS.[12]

NCW for a separate law to protect trafficked women

Concerned at feminisation of migration, which has often resulted in women being trafficked and becoming vulnerable to harm, including abuse at work, poor living conditions and health risks, the National Commission for Women has recommended special laws to protect them.

The panel has also demanded a national policy for domestic workers, and asked the Ministry of Women and Child Development to formulate a draft integrated plan of action to combat trafficking in women and children.

Taking suo motu cognisance of media reports of women being trafficked for forced labour, the NCW has recommended that the Ministry of Home Affairs draft a special law to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in persons, especially women and children. The special law should include the definition of trafficking as per Article 3 of United Nations Convention 2000 and its Protocol to include the term “abuse of position of vulnerability” (which is missing in Section 370 of the Indian Penal Code).[13]

 Some other forms of exploitation to be included in the definition are sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or similar practices, servitude or the removal of organs. “This should be extended to offences committed outside India and women should be given provision for security and control of documents in order to ensure that travel or identity documents issued, especially to women, cannot be easily misused, readily falsified or unlawfully altered, replicated or issued,” the NCW says in a report while suggesting that cases of missing women should be linked with investigations into trafficking.[14]

Pointing out that the fundamental right to freedom of movement was a woman’s right which must be distinguished from trafficking, which is coercive and violent, the NCW says a frequently used method of deception by traffickers is luring vulnerable girls on the promise of ‘lucrative jobs’.

“Prevention of trafficking in women requires not only examining the factors that contribute to the problem but also providing awareness among potential victims in order to reduce the traffickers abusing their position of vulnerability,’’ the report says, suggesting that the need was to identify women who were at the risk of being trafficked and provide them with the necessary tools to find work without putting them at risk.[15]

NCW, UNIFEM to fight trafficking in women

The National Commission for Women (NCW) and the United Nations Development Fund for Women (Unifem) on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to combat trafficking in girls and women and “feminisation” of the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

Under the MoU, the two agencies will engage in developing strategies to reduce all forms of violence among women, including policy dialogues to end the trafficking in women in India which would ultimately lead to creating public awareness.

The two organisations would render all assistance to complaints relating to women abandoned by their non-resident Indian spouses, including networking with non-governmental organisations in India and abroad and recommending the government on any policy or issue relating to NRI marriages.

To begin with, the NCW, in partnership with Unifem, proposes to reach out to women and address their vulnerability in the source areas from where they are trafficked.

This programme is an attempt to bridge the gap and make prevention services accessible and eventually institutionalized at the zilla and panchayat-level.

Under the MoU, efforts would be made to re-visit existing government programmes to include women in difficult situations to make them economically independent.

NCW in protecting trafficked women

Indian Penal Code has various provisions dealing with varied aspects of human Trafficking such as: Section 363 A (Kidnapping or maiming a minor for the purpose of begging); Section 366 A (Procuring a minor girl for sexual exploitation); Section 370 (Trafficking) [16]

• Section 370.- Whoever, for the purpose of exploitation, (a) recruits, (b) transports, (c) Harbours, (d) transfers, or receives, a person or persons, by (i) using threats, or (ii) Using force, or any other form of coercion, or (iii) by abduction, or (iv) by practicing Fraud, or deception, or (v) by abuse of power, or (vi) by inducement, including the giving Or receiving of payments or benefits, in order to achieve the consent of any person having Control over the person recruited, transported, harbored, transferred or received, commits the offence of trafficking. [17]

The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1986

Section 5 of the Act punishes procuring, inducing or taking a person for the sake of Prostitution whether with or without consent. If the person in respect of whom such Offence is committed is a minor, the punishment shall extend to rigorous imprisonment for a term of not less than 7 years and not more than fourteen years. [18]

• Procedure For Remedy
• Complaint by victim or relatives in the nearest police station.

Role of Indian Judiciary

In Geeta Kancha Tamang v. State of Maharashtra[19]while denying release of a women trafficker, on mercy grounds, who had served 14 months imprisonment the court stated that the first aspect that the Court has to consider for such a heinous crime is that trafficking in persons is prohibited under Art.23 of Constitution of India. It’s, therefore, Fundamental Right of every Indian citizen not to be trafficked. Such act constitutes grossest violence of the Human Rights of the victim.

In Budhadev Karmaskar v. State of West Bengal[20] SC stated that the Central and State Governments should, through Social Welfare Boards across the country, create rehabilitation programs for women commonly known as “prostitutes” and for physically abused women. The court instructed the Central and State governments to prepare schemes for providing technical and vocational training for sex workers and sexually abused women in all cities of India.

Impact of trafficking on society and individuals

The human and social consequences of trafficking are compelling. From physical abuse and torture of victims to psychological and emotional trauma, to economic and political implications of unabated crime, impact on individuals and society is clearly destructive and unacceptable.[21] Every stage of trafficking involves physical, sexual and psychological abuse and violence. Victims are so much exposed to this grievous and abusive environment that their mind becomes paralyzed with the prolonged and repeated trauma.

Trafficking is understood to have medical, social, legal and economic effects on victims. Trafficked persons are reportedly traumatized by their experiences. Suicidal thoughts are common for them. Besides being stigmatized as outcasts and facing moral and legal isolation, traffic people are vulnerable to HIV/AIDS infections, drug addiction, high-risk abortions, and teenage pregnancies which affects their reproductive health for life.[22]

Trafficking involves violation of laws and human rights. Trafficking threatens the very fabric of society because it involves not only criminals but also law enforcers.[23] It’s seen that women, who get back from trafficking, find it difficult to adjust to normal social life. They are afraid to freely walk back into society because of fear of being trafficked again. This fear affects choices that they make about their future.

Victims of trafficking are sometimes compelled to become criminals. Sometimes it happens, a victim who came back to society is again re-trafficked as because there is a long chain of traffickers working behind this crime. It’s also seen that a woman who once was a victim has now turned to the role of a trafficker because this society didn’t accept her back. Victims who try to rejoin society sometimes do not get support from their family and community.

However, sometimes positive effects are also seen. The victims who get back to society build courage and try to help other women from getting trafficked. They join several NGOs and start working for the society so that what they had gone through, do not become the fate of other girls. There are many areas where the law fail to reach or stands faulty, in those cases the role of NGOs are very commendable.

Conclusion

Inspite of a desperate try from all spheres to combat this racket, we are far from achieving success. The rescue operations could only save a negligible proportion of the victims; the courts could provide justice only to a fraction of the million sex workers who are exploited everyday. But according to my point of view, if there is no general awareness amongst every citizen of the country, nothing can be achieved. We all have to work together to make this mission a success so that no women of tomorrow is found in a brothel but is seen in an educational institution and hence some concrete measures must be taken as soon as possible.

If initiatives are taken, problems can be combated; the menace can be eradicated from our society. If this mission can be accomplished, only then our country can prosper and we must not stop till we reach our object following the great words of Swami Vivekananda, arise, awake and stop not till the goal is reached. If the goal can be achieved, in near future, India will become a nation where the mind is without fear and the head is held high.

Related Posts:

• Financial Debt and Operational Debt under IBC
• Who is a Creditor under IBC?
• Pillars of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code [Regulatory Bodies]
• Difference Between Substantive Law and Procedural Law
• Salient Features of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016

.

[1] Human Trafficking, available at: http://vikaspedia.in/social-welfare/social-awareness/human-trafficking-1/human ( visited on: 24/07/2021)

[2] United Nations office on drugs and crimes , available at: https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/glotip/Annex_II_-_Definition_and_mandate.pdf (visited on: 24/07/2021)

[3] Sarfaraz Ahmed Khan, “Human Trafficking”, Justice Verma Committee Report And Legal Reform: An Unaccomplished Agenda 56(4) Journal of the Indian Law Institute 569 (2014)

[4] “Judicial colloquium on human trafficking” available at: http://jajharkand.in/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/

01/05 human trafficking.pdf (visited on: 25/07/2021)

[5] “Causes of human rights trafficking”, available at: https://borgenproject.org/causes-of-human-trafficking-in- (visited on: 25/07/2021)

[6] C.B Raju, “Trafficking in India: Issues and Perspectives, In Honour of the Common Man”, Gadag, p-56

[7] Saraswati R Iyer, “Women Trafficking in India”, Shanlax International Journal of Arts, Science & Humanities,    Vol.4 Issue 2, 2016, p.108

[8] Supra Note 6, p.59

[9] Supra Note 7, p.115

[10] Himika Deb, Tanmay Sanyal, “Human Trafficking: An Overview with Special Emphasis on India and West Bengal” Volume 22, Issue 9, Ver. 5, IOSR Journal Of Humanities And Social Science (IOSR-JHSS), Available at: https://    www.researchgate.net/ publication/319998554_ Human_Trafficking_an_Overview_ With_Special_Emphasis_    on_India_and _West_Bengal_Himika_Deb1_and_DrTanmay_Sanyal_Corresponding_Author_iosr_jhss_vol22    _issue _9_version_5,( visited on 25/07/2021)

[11] “National Commission for women” available at: https://blog.ipleaders.in/national-commission-women-working-composition-functions/amp/( visited on 26/07/2021)

[12] Ibid

[13] Aarti Dhar, “ NCW for a separate law to protect trafficked women” available at: https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/ncw-for-a-separate-law-to-protect-trafficked-women/article5501558.ece (visited on: 26/07/2021)

[14] Ibid

[15] Ibid

[16] “ Legal module-national commission for women” available at :http://ncw.nic.in/sites/default/files/Module-%20Laws%20relating%20to%20Women_0.pdf ( visited on:26/07/2021)

[17] Ibid

[18] Ibid

[19] 2010 Cri LJ 2755

[20] (2011) 11 SCC 538

[21] “Introduction to human trafficking” available at: https://www.unodc.org/documents/human-trafficking/An_Introduction_to_Human_Trafficking_-_Background_Paper.pdf (visited on: 27/07/2021)

[22] P.M. Nair & Shankar Sen, “Trafficking in Women and Children in India” 15 (Orient Longman Pvt. Ltd. , 2005)

[23] Ibid

Author: Pranali Ganachari