Child Trafficking in India: An Overview

Abstract

Trafficking of human beings, particularly children, has emerged as a matter of grave concern around the world, including in India, in recent years. It is the most serious form of organized crime in the world, and it cuts across cultures, geographies, and time periods (INTERPOL, 2005). “Human Trafficking is the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of people through force, fraud or deception, with the aim of exploiting them for profit” (United Nations, 2002). Human trafficking is also an unauthorised trade in human beings for the purpose of reproductive enslavement, commercial sexual exploitation, forced labour, and other forms of exploitation, among other things. (United Nations, 2008). The practice of human trafficking is referred to be a modern-day variant of slavery since it takes place in the contemporary world (INTERPOL, 2005; Stop the Traffick, 2006). Although the precise number of persons enticed or coerced over international boundaries each year is unclear, even conservative estimates show that at least 2.5 million children, women, and men are trafficked and forced to work in dismal and risky conditions against their will (Johannes Koettl, 2009). Many more are trafficked and forced to work within their own countries, often under dubious and dangerous conditions and held captive by physical, psychological or financial threats (Johannes Koettl, 2009). It is the truth that human trafficking is an abhorrent assault to the dignity and rights of those who are trafficked. It has been estimated that out of the total number of persons affected by human trafficking in which 80% women and 50% children are affected by human trafficking in India (P.P.I., 2010). Moreover, annually, 20 billion rupees are turned over through human trafficking (P.P.I., 2010). For thousands of men, women, and children, India is a source of resources, a transit point, and a destination (Sen, 2003; Srivastava, 2007; P.P.I., 2010). India's frontier states have a common border with neighboring nations such as Nepal, Bangladesh, China, Pakistan, and others (Shrivastava, 2007 and Sharma, 2007). The children from these nations are readily accepted for commercial sex in these countries (Sharma, 2007; P.P.I., 2010).....