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16th November 2024 (9 Topics)

SC Directs Centre on Rehabilitation Framework for Sex Trafficking Victims

Context

The Supreme Court has asked the Union government to take urgent and prompt measures to address "highly sensitive and important" issue of establishment of a comprehensive rehabilitation framework for victims of sex trafficking, in view of legislative vaccum.

What is Human Trafficking?

  • Human trafficking is the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of people through force, fraud, or deception to exploit them for profit. The exploitation can take various forms, including:
    • Sexual exploitation
    • Forced labor
    • Slavery
    • Servitude
    • Removal of organs
  • According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), human trafficking is a serious global issue with wide-ranging consequences.

Global Severity of Human Trafficking

  • Prevalence of Trafficking: According to the UNODC 2019 report, 60% of trafficking occurs within a single country.
  • Victims of Sexual Exploitation
    • 90% of sexual trafficking victims are women and girls.
    • Forced Labor in South Asia
    • In South Asia, 85% of trafficking victims are exploited for forced labor.
  • Human trafficking is the third most challenging crime globally, following drug trafficking and weapons trade in terms of turnover and human misery.

Causes of Human Trafficking

  • Poverty: Poverty creates vulnerability, with traffickers exploiting the desperate circumstances of people, especially in impoverished areas.
  • Social and Cultural Factors: Social devaluation, especially of young women, makes them easy targets for traffickers.
  • Migration: Migration due to economic opportunities, disasters, or conflict increases vulnerability, with traffickers using false promises to exploit individuals.
  • Climate Change: Natural disasters and displacement due to climate change (both sudden and slow onset) exacerbate vulnerabilities to trafficking.
  • Low Conviction Rate: Despite these legal provisions, the conviction rate in human trafficking cases remained 4% in 2022, indicating the challenges in effectively prosecuting traffickers.
  • Other Contributing Factors: Corrupt officials, permeable borders, and international criminal groups further enable trafficking activities.
India’s Vulnerability to Human Trafficking
  • Porous Borders: India, especially West Bengal, has a porous 2,216.7 km border with Bangladesh, facilitating both domestic and international human trafficking.
  • Geographical Location: India's geographical proximity to opium-growing regions, such as the Golden Crescent (Afghanistan) and the Golden Triangle (Myanmar), contributes to trafficking networks in the region.
Legal and Constitutional Frameworks in India to Counter Human Trafficking
  • Article 23 of the Indian Constitution: It prohibits human trafficking and forced labor (begar).
  • Article 24: It forbids the employment of children below 14 years in hazardous jobs like factories and mines.
  • Immoral Traffic Prevention Act (ITPA), 1986: The Act implements the Trafficking Convention and establishes authorities to combat trafficking, though its roles and functions need clarification.
  • Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013: The Act replaces Section 370 of the IPC with Sections 370 and 370A, providing comprehensive measures against human trafficking.
  • Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS):
    • Section 143 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023 provides penal provisions for strict punishment for any offence of human trafficking.
    • Section 144(1) of the BNS provides for strict punishment for the offence of sexual exploitation of trafficked children. The punishment for such offences range between five years to life imprisonment.
    • Sections 95 to 99 of the BNS deal with offences against children and provide for strict punishment to the offenders. These sections have provisions for dealing with the offence of hiring, employing or engaging a child to commit an offence; procuration of child; and selling/buying of a child for purposes of prostitution, etc. The punishment for these offences range between three years to fourteen years.
    • Section 139 of the BNS provides punishment against kidnapping or maiming of a child for the purposes of begging.
    • Section 141 of the BNS provides punishment for importation of a girl or boy from foreign country for illicit sexual exploitation etc. The punishment for these offences range between ten years to life imprisonment.  
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