Human Trafficking is the trading or illicit selling of people for Sexual slavery, labour, or illegal deeds in the market. Human trafficking is the trade in people, especially women and children, and does not necessarily involve the movement of the person from one place to another. It is one of the most important issues in India for the government to look forward to But there’s another component to the fight against human trafficking you should know about: what governments are doing to prevent and address the issue in their own countries and around the world.
In general, government intervention varies—while some countries are creating policies that work for their cultures, others are lagging behind with no counter-trafficking laws at all. There are also some international standards: In 2003, the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons established a universal trafficking definition and set a goal for countries to prevent and combat trafficking and assist victims.
These efforts are challenging, however, as there is no one way to address the variations in trafficking across the world. Differing cultures, economics, and religions all make laws complicated to implement, and corruption, cultural interpretations, and different systems of justice make them even more difficult to enforce. Another thing that should be noted is that many of the laws worldwide focus on sex trafficking as opposed to labor trafficking (which is more widespread), partially because sex trafficking is talked about in the media more.
More than 200,000 Indian children are trafficked each year and forced into domestic servitude or labor in brick kilns or embroidery factories and brothels. But while government-sponsored Anti-Trafficking Units, which are supposed to investigate human trafficking cases, continue to be established and more prosecutions are occurring, the laws are not widely enforced. Part of the problem is that it’s hard to say if one universal trafficking law can work and be enforced for a country as large and regionally diverse as India. At the same time, factors like corruption and lack of training and resources make it difficult to ensure that programs are effective.
The U.S. State Department has encouraged India to continue raising awareness about human trafficking, work to establish special anti-trafficking courts, and file and prosecute cases on the local level.
