Human trafficking is the third largest organized crime after drugs and the arms trade across the globe. According to the United Nations – “trafficking is any activity leading to recruitment, transportation, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of threat or use of force or a position of vulnerability”. Close to 80% of human trafficking across the world is done for sexual exploitation and the rest is for bonded labor.

India is considered as the hub of human trafficking in Asia with almost 20,000 women and children victims of it in 2016, a rise of nearly 25% from the previous year. According to the Ministry of Women and Child Development 19,223 women and children were trafficked last year against 15,448 in 2015. To understand the problem of human trafficking we need to understand the basic intertwined factors behind it. For example:

• Poverty: Kids, especially girls, mostly from poorer regions are sold in faraway states of India for sexual exploitation and to work as bonded labour by agents who lure their parents with education, better life, and money for these kids.
• Porous borders & poor bilateral coordination: Porous borders coupled with lack of bilateral mechanism to handle trafficking makes neighbours like Bangladesh and Nepal and border states of India the prominent areas of human trafficking.
• Double victimisation: Cross-country trafficking leads to double victimisation of trafficked persons as they don’t have their documents, which makes them illegal migrants in the host country.
• Illegal trading: Another cause of trafficking is the illegal organ trade or drug trade racket in which gullible and innocent people get trapped.
• Indebtedness: To support their family or to fulfil their debt obligations to moneylenders, members are forced to work for them
• Impact of disasters: Disasters leads to loss of stability and earning opportunities for many families. Various agents take advantage of such situation to traffic affected persons as they are most vulnerable to false promises in hope of better life.
• Lack of skills and job opportunities forces them to take up such offers.

To combat the problem of human trafficking, a lot of measures have been taken by the state machinery as well as by the NGOs to rehabilitate the victims of human trafficking. Some of the initiatives are:

• Article 23 of the Indian Constitution explicitly prohibits and criminalises human trafficking and forced labour.
• Trafficking in Human Beings or Persons is prohibited under the Constitution of India under Article 23(1). The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 (ITPA) is the premier legislation for prevention of trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation.
• Criminal Law (Amendment) Act 2013 has come into force wherein Section 370 of the Indian Penal Code has been substituted with Section 370 and 370A IPC, which provide for comprehensive measures to counter the menace of human trafficking.
• Protection of Children from Sexual offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 is a special law to protect children from sexual abuse and exploitation.
• There are other specific legislations enacted relating to trafficking in women and children: Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006; Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976; Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986; Transplantation of Human Organs Act, 1994; apart from specific Sections in the IPC, e.g. Sections 372 and 373 dealing with selling and buying of girls for the purpose of prostitution.
• State Governments have also enacted specific legislations to deal with the issue. (e.g. The Punjab Prevention of Human Smuggling Act, 2012).
• Along with the government trafficking is prevented by the efforts of local NGOs such as Maiti Nepal on the Nepalgunj side and Dehat Prahari Project in India.

To combat the problem of human trafficking we need to respond to the social weaknesses that make victims of human trafficking vulnerable to exploitation, such as gender inequalities, underemployment, family conflicts etc.