Thursday, November 25, 2010
Country has three million children in flesh trade
The seminar was organised by SHAPATH, a SCMHRD student's organisation, that aims at combating human trafficking and changing the lives of victims with alternative means of livelihood.
While addressing the students of the college, Gupta said that human trafficking was one of the biggest evils in the world. "According to researchers, there are 27 million people in the world who are trapped in slavery of some kind today. This is a higher figure than the slavery in the 19th century. Mankind today enjoys the fruits of technology and science, yet there are members in society who are left behind. Majority of them are women and girls who are being trafficked for prostitution, domestic service use, bonded labour, begging and organ trade," she said.
According to Gupta, traffickers, many of whom are members of organised crime networks from transporters to recruiters to agents to brothel managers and owners are part of the trafficking chain and serve the need of the end user. "To dismantle the system of trafficking, we need to go after the demand for trafficked sex. We must run a campaign that acts as a deterrent to this demand. According to the National Human Rights Commission of India, all those who are purchased for entry into prostitution are 9 to 13 years old. The same study says that the numbers of those who are being trafficked for prostitution are going up and the age is coming down," she said.
She revealed that according to the Central Bureau of Investigation, there are three million prostituted children in India right now. "Girls are moved from brothel to brothel. The traffickers make sure to hide them, keep them isolated and traumatised so that they cannot speak up. This figure of three million is just the tip of the iceberg, for we do not know how many adult women are being trafficked for prostitution. These women go through a process of seasoning' inside the brothel, till their spirits are completely subjugated and they do not even wish to run. Many of them begin to suffer from the Stockholm syndrome, a phenomenon in which a hostage begins to identify with, thank and grow sympathetic to their captor," she said.
Small businesses should be started for those who are the victims of trafficking or are vulnerable to it. "Provide them with linkages in the corporate world, where they can get job training and access to jobs. Also, try and develop small business models for such women as well self help groups for a sustainable and dignified livelihood," she said.
Beside the demand, the causes of trafficking are also related to the supply side or those whose choices are taken away and become vulnerable to being trafficked, she said. "Their vulnerability to trafficking can be caused because of their caste (belonging to denotified tribes), poverty (due to natural and manmade disasters) and being born a girl," said Gupta.
Gupta is currently lobbying in the Parliament for a change in the Indian anti-trafficking law, Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act (ITPA), for more severe punishment of buyers of prostituted sex and traffickers who profit from it, along with removal of clauses that punish women and girls. "I have testified to the Standing Committee of Parliament on the subject and launched the strengthening of section 5 (a clause to punish buyers and traffickers) campaign to bring about changes in the current ITPA. We have asked another clause to be included on capacity building for women and girls who are victims of trafficking," she said. TOI
Posts
