THE EFFECTIVE ADMINISTRATION OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE TO TACKLE
TRAFFICKING IN HUMAN BEINGS AND SMUGGLING OF MIGRANTS IN
INDIA
Deepa Mehta*

I. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
North India’s premier newspaper ‘The Tribune’ dated 10th September, 2002 from Chandigarh
reported in an article ‘want to mint money, say $ 200 to $ 300 million per annum, without doing almost
nothing? If yes, be an agent or sub-agent of a well-oiled conglomerate, run by dozens of “unscrupulous
but powerful travel agents” based in Delhi or a foreign country, base yourself in a village or township in
the Doaba region and successfully entice thousands of young foreign aspirants, each of whom is ready to
pay anything from $ 20,000 to $ 30,000 for “permanent” settlement abroad.
This is no mere estimation. Official figures show that nearly 15,000 youth from Doaba and otherparts of Punjab (Punjab is one of the many states of India) go to the U.S.A., Canada and other Westerncountries annually. Most of them go with the help of people based in different villages, who act as subagents or conduits of certain Delhi or foreign based “travel agents”, running the flourishing “humancargo” business. The most popular method among young aspirants for settling in a country of theirchoice is to just intentionally misplace his or her original travel documents and then apply for fresh
travel documents through embassies of different countries. The widespread use by unscrupulous
agents, is evident from heaps of national status verification queries - forwarded by embassies ofdifferent countries to the local Regional Passport Office and the police authorities. And the number of
those people who had “lost” their travel documents during their foreign trip has been on the rise during
all these years.
The Regional Passport Office authorities, official sources revealed, received about 5500 verification
queries during the past year, which were routed by them to the police authorities for the purpose. On
the other hand, the office received about 625 such queries in 1999, followed by 582 and 632 during 2000
and 2001 respectively. The rise in number of course, is mind-boggling. “Though not all are wrong. But
most who apply for a fresh passport intentionally misplace their travel documents so as to feign thatthey had not gone to that country through some illegal channel or were on a short visit as they had been
accorded a visitor'’ visa,” said an official adding that most such people act on advice given to them by
their travel agents.
According to an official estimate, this way, people who work as sub-agents of those indulging in thehuman cargo racket, mop up about $ 200,000,000 per year since they charge an amount of $ 20,000 to $30,000 per person and since the number of people actually landing in certain Western countries are
estimated to be twice those who apply for fresh travel documents. “Actually if, on an estimate, 5,000
people apply for a fresh passport from abroad, the same number of people are those who either don’t
apply for a fresh passport or those who, had paid the money to travel agents in India, but had failed to
get through”, said a senior official associated with the verification process.
Police officials, admitted that the most favoured destinations were the USA and Canada and thoseindulging in the racket used varied routes, including Nepal and Mexico, for sending people to these twocountries. The number of people who were not accredited travel agents but operated from various
villages and townships of the Doaba region as sub-agents, according to the travel and trade industry
sources, was between 125 and 150, but the police put the number at 500. “They don’t have shops or* Inspector General of Police,
Chief Vigilance Officer,
Delhi Metro Rail Corporation,
India

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offices and are generally those who have been to a foreign country once or twice or had adopted thisprofession after being deported. Their services are generally taken by people settled abroad, who wantto get their relatives abroad at any cost”.
A notorious cheat Gurdip Singh was recently caught on September 19, 2002, and according to the
Tribune of September 20, 2002, he confessed to having arranged green cards for over 200 immigrants
under an amnesty offer by the U.S. government in 1982. Says Gurdip, “I command a lot of respect in the
Doaba belt for sending their people abroad.” Gurdip used to arrange fake documents for illegal
immigrants and charge money for it. After being caught by the FBI on December 23, 1989, forarranging green cards for the immigrants, he was released on January 31, 1990, after he turned state
approver in the case. He was deported from Korea, Malaysia and Poland for sending illegal migrants
through these countries.
There have recently been far more reports of smuggling migrants from India, reflecting an
emerging migrant smuggling infrastructure that involves Indian agents recruiting migrants,
transporting them to Europe or North America, collecting fees from them and perhaps providing themwith jobs in the destination areas. The migrant smugglers located in the Paharganj area in Delhi
generally charge $ 7,500 to $ 9,000 to send an individual to Europe.
II. CAUSES
What are the causes? Or what are the “pull” and “push” factors for migration? Why is it that anindustry has emerged which involves helping migrants, for a fee, to secure visas, transportation andemployment? Why has migration spurred the growth of illegal trafficking with the illegal flow of
workers and a large market for forged documents?
The ILO secretariat has published a book entitled “Workers without frontiers - The Impact of
globalization on International Migration”. According to the author, Peter Stalker, the flow of goods andcapital between rich and poor countries is not large enough to offset the need for employment in poorer
countries. Instead, social disruption caused by economic restructuring is encouraging people to look forwork abroad. The total number of migrants around the world is now 120 million, up from 75 million in1965 and is still growing. In a world of winners and losers, the losers do not simply disappear; they seek
somewhere else to go. The ability to find good jobs and earn much higher pay is the prime reason forpeople to migrate. According to the ILO publication, the potential for migration is the difference in wage
rates for occupations that are open to migrants. For instance, in the U.S., the sector in which the shareof immigrants is highest is agriculture; in Belgium and the Netherlands, it is the extraction andprocessing of minerals; in Denmark, Germany, Australia and Canada, it is manufacturing; in Franceand Luxembourg, it is construction and civil engineering and in the U.K. it is services.
On this side of the globe, many countries are both sources and destinations for migrant workers.
Thailand is host to migrants but also has Thai Workers spread across Asia. Similarly, skilled workers
from India migrate to Indonesia and other East Asian countries.
In a number of Asian countries, the majority of migrants today are women, generally working as
domestic servants in West Asia, Singapore and Hong Kong. The NIE (newly industrialized economies)of Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan have all attracted large contingents of unskilledworkers even as they try to control the inflow.
A Ministerial Conference on People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons and Related Transnational
Crime was held in Bali from 26-28 February which was attended by representatives from countries in
the Asia - Pacific region and the Middle East. Ministers from these countries acknowledged that illegal
movements were growing in scale and complexity world wide, including the Asia - Pacific Region. They
noted with concern that many of the smuggling and trafficking activities were being orchestrated bycriminal networks that were also involved in the trafficking of narcotics, document fraud, money
laundering, arms smuggling and other transnational crimes. They also expressed deep concern about
possible links between terrorist elements and people smuggling and trafficking operations and thatthese activities were now rivaling narcotics in profitability. Ministers affirmed that the root causes of61

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people smuggling and trafficking in persons were numerous and multi-dimensional, involving
economic, social and political aspects. They reaffirmed that poverty, economic disparities, labour
market opportunities and conflict were major causes contributing to the global increase in people
smuggling and trafficking in persons. Ministers recognized that these problems should be addressed cooperatively and comprehensively.
III. INDIA - COUNTRY PERSPECTIVE
Let us examine the case of India. India, the world’s most populous democracy with one billion people
is both a host for and a source of migrants. Many Nepalese, have migrated to India. Census officials saythat more than five million Bangladeshis have settled illegally in the northeastern region of India.
According to Migration News July 2001 Volume 8 Number 7, it was estimated in May 2001 that there
were at least 12 million illegal Bangladesh migrants in India’s northeastern states. Most of the
migrants are laborers in the dominant industry, tea production and in services. It is claimed that thepresence of these illegal migrants poses economic and cultural problems.
India and Bangladesh share a 4,000-kilometer border. In fact, Dhubai, which is the last Assamese
district, faces continuous influx from across the border. Bangladeshi migrants reportedly sneak in with
the Indian farmers, who go across the border to cultivate. Though the Border Security Force issues
token cards to these farmers, which they return on return, Indian officials can’t check every individual.
District officials also admit connivance of the local population in helping the infiltrators. Middlemen in
the border villages are making huge sums of money from these infiltrators. Several instances in whichthese infiltrators were issued ID cards and residential certificates by village panchayats have come tolight.
Why do people migrate to India? It is said that there are essentially two types of migrants from acountry, the first due to political or religious reasons, and the other are economic migrants. In the firstcase the persons are given asylum in the adopted country, since it would be inhuman to send them back,knowing fully well that they will not have normal civil liberties and in many cases their lives will be indanger. Political asylum seekers usually tend to be small in number. Economic migrants do not receive
such privileges and their number tends to be much larger and places a substantial monetary burden on
the host country.
In the case of India there has been a stream of Hindu migrants from both Pakistan and Bangladesh
since the independence of the country in 1947, but numbers have been small, and the absorption of thispopulation has not been such a difficult task. Another group that has come to India from Bangladesh isthat of the Chakmas. Chakmas live in a small hilly area of Bangladesh. While the Chakmas are being
asked to go back, based on an assurance by the Bangladesh government, their future remains
uncertain.
The case of economic migration into India is different. Sometimes, cases of illegal migrants acquirepolitical overtones. Parties try to create a block of votes in order to win elections by granting suchpeople ration cards, on the basis of which they get enrolled on the electoral rolls. Sometimes, they
determine the fate of the election due to their concentration in certain pockets. Thus, the winner ischosen not by Indians, but by foreigners. Such migrants form significant blocks, and determine
economic policies. As India is a poor country with a large number of unemployed people, illegal
migrants are perceived as taking away jobs from legitimate citizens.
There is another side of the story. Illegal migrants from India are smuggled to other countries after
paying smuggling fees. In 2001, 400 cases were registered at Police Station Indira Gandhi International
Airport under sections of cheating, fraud and forgery of the Indian Penal Code and the Foreigners Act
and 345 cases have been registered so far in 2002. During this year 205 persons have been arrested forattempting to travel with forged passports or visas.
In some cases, illegal migrants are unable to pay the full amount of fees demanded before theyreach their place of destination. They endure even worse treatment at the hands of smugglers.
According to the Los Angeles Times, May 5, 1998 a case in Florida involved 23 women from Vera Cruz,

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Mexico, some as young as 13 years old, who were enslaved in prostitution to pay off their $2,000
smuggling fees. Similarly, when migrants from India and Nepal cannot pay their fees they are
kidnapped and ransomed by their smugglers. Sometimes, repayment of debts is defrayed by migrants
by serving as “mules” and carrying drugs. The Times recently reported on how Asian and African
migrants are being smuggled into the United States through Central America. William D. Cadman,
U.S. Immigration and Nationalization Service counter terrorism coordinator, in a recent testimony
before Congress, said:“Alien smuggling reaches far beyond our borders with Mexico and Canada - to the Caribbean, allregions of the globe and deep within the interior of the United States itself .........Organized crime
syndicates and international terrorist organizations are known to use alien-smuggling operations to
support and further their criminal objective.”
It is in this manner that smuggling of migrants becomes part of a wider network of transnationalorganized crime.
The National Seminar on Political Economy of Migration, held from August 17-19, 2001 in
Bangalore focused on the issue of human trafficking, drug abuse, smuggling etc. Participants felt thatporous borders, lackadaisical vigil and several other registration failures encouraged migration fromthe borders and recommended strict vigil and proper administrative infrastructures to check illegal
migration.
The seminar also highlighted specific problems related to international migration. The participants
recommended the revision of the existing international migration laws and the ratification of theUnited Nation’s International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of all Migrant Workers andMembers of their Families of 1990 by the Government of India. Neighbouring countries Bangladesh and
Sri Lanka have signed the convention. India is yet to do so. The participants felt that the fundamental
human rights of migrants are too easily violated or ignored. The violation of their rights contributes toincreasing social disintegration and declining respect for the rule of law. There is more need than even
before to promote the development and applications of international standards, which underline afundamental fact that “migrants” rights, are “human rights”.
IV. STRATEGIES TO COMBAT SMUGGLING OF HUMANS
The Bali Ministerial Conference on People smuggling, Trafficking in Persons and RelatedInternational Crime emphasized the fact that while it was very difficult for any individual state tocounter people smuggling and trafficking in persons effectively without the support of other states, andwhile people smuggling, trafficking in persons and other forms of illegal migration were global
problems involving source, transit and destination countries, which required comprehensive
international action, the Asia - Pacific region could make an effective and important contribution tocombating these criminal activities by developing practical co-operative measures to prevent, intercept
and disrupt people smuggling, trafficking in persons and other forms of illegal migration. Subject tonational laws and according to their respective national circumstances, nations could work towards:---

Developing more effective information and intelligence sharing arrangements within the region
to obtain a more complete picture of smuggling and trafficking activities and other forms ofillegal migration.
Improving the cooperation of law enforcement agencies to enhance deterrence and to fightagainst illegal immigration networks.
Enhancing co-operation on border and visa systems to improve the detection and prevention ofillegal movements.
Increasing public awareness of the facts of smuggling and trafficking operations to discourage
those considering illegal movement and to warn those susceptible to trafficking, including
women and children - enhancing the effectiveness of return as a strategy to deter illegal
migration through the conclusion of appropriate arrangements.
Cooperating in verifying the identity and nationality of illegal migrants, in a timely manner.

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An important strategy to deter and prevent such activities was to adopt and strengthen legislationthat specifically criminalizes people smuggling and trafficking in persons. The Bangkok Declaration on
Irregular Migration; the ongoing work of the Asia Pacific Consultations on Refugees, Displaced persons
and Migration; and the existing ASEAN mechanisms in combating people smuggling, trafficking inpersons and related transnational crime, were of utmost relevance. The United Nations Convention
against Transnational Organized Crimes and the protocols thereto were international instruments forpreventing, criminalizing and combating people smuggling and trafficking in persons and individual
countries needed to consider the benefits of signing and ratifying the Convention and its Protocols.
In the Bali Conference, Ministers also urged the international community to assist source countries
to address the root causes of the illegal movement of people by providing emergency aid, development
assistance, direct support programmes for displaced persons and to address the plight of refugees. They
agreed on the need for capacity building programs to achieve sustained economic growth andsustainable development and for assistance to countries with large refugee populations. Ministersemphasized that consideration should also be given to encouraging more opportunities for legal
channels of migration including access to the international labour market.
The United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime is supplemented by theProtocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air. The definition of smuggling of
migrants includes procurement of illegal entry into a country of which the person is not a national or apermanent resident in order to obtain direct or indirect financial or other material benefit.
According to the General Provisions, the purpose of the Protocol is to prevent and combat thesmuggling of migrants, as well as to promote co-operation among state parties to that end. Article 6
talks of criminalization and states that:“Each State Party shall adopt such legislative and other measures as may be necessary to establish
as criminal offences, when committed intentionally and in order to obtain, directly or indirectly, afinancial or other material benefit:(a) The smuggling of migrants;(b) When committed for the purpose of enabling the smuggling of migrants;i) Producing a fraudulent travel or identity document;ii) Procuring, providing or possessing such a document;(c) Enabling a person who is not a national or a permanent resident to remain in the state
concerned without complying with the necessary requirement for legally remaining in the stateby the means mentioned in sub paragraph (b) of this paragraph or any other illegal means”.
Part II of the Protocol is concerned with the smuggling of Migrants by sea and Part III elaborates on
Prevention, co-operation and other means such as exchange of information, border measures, security
and control as well as legitimacy and validity of documents, training and technical cooperation andother prevention measures. Part IV consists of Final Provisions.
The International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of all Migrant Workers and Membersof their Families was adopted by the General Assembly on December, 18, 1990 and opened forsignature, ratification and accession. The convention will come into force after ratification by 20 State
parties. So far, 9 states have ratified the Convention.
An Ad hoc Committee on the Elaboration of a Convention against Transnational Organized Crime
met in October 2000 for the finalization and approval of the additional international legal instrument
against trafficking in and transporting of migrants.

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V. TRAFFICKING
Trafficking in human beings is the illegal trade of human beings, through abduction, the use of
threat of force, deception, fraud or “sale” for the purposes of sexual exploitation or forced labour. Thisdefinition is based on the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons,
Especially Women and Children.
A definition of trafficking offered by the United Nations Special Rapporteur to the United Nations
Commission on Human Rights in 2000 states that trafficking in persons means the recruitment,
transportation, purchase, sale, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons by threat or use of violence,
abduction, force, fraud, deception or coercion (including the abuse of authority), or debt bondage, for the
purpose of placing or holding such person, whether for pay or not, in forced labour or slavery - likepractices, in a community other than the one in which such person lived at the time of the original act
described.
The United Nations interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute estimates that four million
individuals are traded every year. The international Organization for Migration estimates that at least
500,000 women are trafficked into Western Europe. This is a business that does affect men, but it ispredominantly women who are being sold into sexual slavery. The illicit trade of people is now amultimillion, perhaps multibillion dollar criminally organized industry, on par with drugs trafficking.
Trafficking routes replicate migration routes, with a traditional movement from South to North.
A. Countries or Areas of Origin
Afghanistan, Albania, Bangladesh, Belarus, Bulgaria, Cambodia, China, Colombia, Croatia,
Hungary, India, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, thePhilippines, Poland, Russia, Romania, Slovakia, Thailand, Ukraine, countries of the former Soviet
Union, Vietnam.
B. Countries or Areas of Destination
Austria, Australia, Belgium, Canada, China (including Hong Kong and Macao), Cyprus, Dubai, theFederal Republic of Yugoslavia, France, Greece, Germany, Hungary, India, Israel, Italy, Japan,
Malaysia, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand,
Turkey, the United Kingdom, the USA and the United Arab Emirates.
VI. CAUSESOver the past decade, trafficking in human beings has reached epidemic proportion. No country isimmune. The search for work abroad has been fuelled by economic disparity, high unemployment anddisruption of traditional livelihoods. Traffickers face few risks and can earn huge profits by taking
advantage of large numbers of potential immigrants. In many cases, drug traffickers have switched totrafficking human beings because it is more lucrative and relatively risk free.
In Asia, girls from villages in Nepal and Bangladesh are sold to brothels in India. Similarly,
trafficked women from Thailand and the Philippines are increasingly being joined by women from othercountries in South East Asia.
Trafficking in human beings is not confined to the sex industry. Children are trafficked to work in
Sweatshops as bonded labour and men work illegally in the “ three D - jobs” - dirty, difficult anddangerous. Children are often “sold” by unsuspecting parents who believe their children are going to belooked after, learn a trade or be educated.
The problems of trafficking are compounded by the fact that many women like to migrate. They do
not want to live permanently in their villages and want to travel to urban areas. Many of thecircumstances that are believed to lead to trafficking - widespread poverty, the low status of women andgirls, and other social un-equities - are also reasons. Women and children often seek to migrate.

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VII. A COMPLEX PROBLEM
There is no single way to identify a victim of trafficking. Trafficking is mainly a hidden problem,
although many trafficking victims are in plain sight. Women and girls are often kept isolated and ifthey are allowed to go out, they are typically watched, escorted or guarded by associates. They are often
raped, beaten, imprisoned, tortured, and made to live in life - threatening conditions. Trafficking
victims often do not have their passports or other travel or immigration documents, because theirabductors have confiscated them. Similarly, trafficking victims rarely have access to means ofcommunication such as phones.
The complexity of the problem can be gauged by some of the newspaper headlines in 2001.
-

U.K. National Plan launched to help protect most vulnerable children (19 Sept. 2001)
Conference: Hidden Children - Funding London’s solutions (19 Sep. 2001)
Offenders could be electronically tagged, BBC News (3 Sept.2001)
Children as young as five could learn about sex abuse, BBC News (3 Sept. 2001)
US State Department - Trafficking in Persons Report July 2001 (3 Sep. 2001)
Report on Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection now available online (3 Sept. 2001)
Thailand Hosts Meeting on child Sex Tourism (9 July 2001)
Child Prostitution attracting foreign businessmen to Indonesia (11 April, 2001)
Italian police bust sex slave ring (Apr. 2001)
Nepal to India: Ending the Trafficker’s Paradise (March 2001)
Internet Pedophiles tracked down in global police operation (12 Feb. 2001)
European Union ministers tackle sexual exploitation (9 Feb. 2001)
She cost me $ 800. And I can sell her for $ 250 an hour (24 Dec. 2000)
Japan: Reported Child Abuse cases Up Tenfold since 1990 (2 Nov. 2000).
VIII. INDIAN PERSPECTIVE

In cross border trafficking, India is a sending, receiving and transit nation. Receiving children from
Bangladesh and Nepal and sending women and children to Middle Eastern nations is a common
occurrence. India and Pakistan are the main destinations for children under 16 who are trafficked insouth Asia. According to Masako Iijima, (“S. Asia urged to unite against child prostitution,” Reuters, 19June, 1998) more than 40% of prostituted girls rescued during major raids of brothels in Bombay in1996 were from Nepal and in February, 1998, there were 200 Bangladeshi children and women
awaiting repatriation in different Indian shelters. 13 boys, between the ages of 7-13 were recovered in
Delhi while being smuggled to Arab countries for becoming jockeys in camel races on 19 February 1998.
The children come from relatively poorer areas and are trafficked to relatively richer ones. In Bombay,
children as young as 9 years are bought at auctions for up to US$ 1500.
In India, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu are considered “high supply
zones” for women in prostitution. Bijapur, Belgaum and Kolhapur are common districts from which
women migrate to the big cities, as part of an organized trafficking network (Central Welfare Board.
Districts bordering, Maharashtra and Karnataka, known as the “devadasi belt, also have trafficking
structures operating at various levels. The women here are in prostitution either because theirhusbands deserted them, or they are trafficked through coercion and deception. Many are devadasi
dedicated into prostitution for the goddess Yellamma.
According to Radhika Coomaraswamy, UN Special Report on Violence Against Women, 2 April
1997, Indian brothels hold many Nepalese women and girls of whom 35 per cent were taken on the false
pretext of marriage or a good job. About 5,000- 7,000 Nepalese girls are trafficked to India every year.
The official figures regarding importation of girls are 78 in 1997, 146 in 1998 and only 1 in1999. Of thetrafficked girls, the average age over the past decade has fallen from 14-16 years old to 10-14 years old.
Calcutta is one of the important transit points for the traffickers for Bombay and to Pakistan. Most of
the women are trafficked out of Bangladesh through land routes along the border areas of Bangladesh
and India, such as Jessore, Satkhira, and Rajshahi.

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The girls are sold by poor parents, tricked into fraudulent marriages, or promised employment intowns only to find themselves in Indian brothels. They’re locked up for days, starved, beaten, andtortured until they learn to comply. Trafficking in women and girls is easy along the 1,740 mile-longopen border between India and Nepal. Trafficking in Nepalese women and girls is less risky thansmuggling narcotics and electronic equipment into India. Traffickers ferry large groups of girls at atime without the hassle of paperwork or threats of police checks. The procurer-pimp-police network
makes the process even smoother. According to Soma Wadhwa, (“For Sale Childhood,” Outlook, 1998)
they are bought for petty amounts and are known to fetch much greater amounts in later transactions.
Girls may not leave the brothels until they have repaid their debt, at which time they are sick, withHIV and/or tuberculosis, and often have children of their own. Any attempt to resist results in brutal
torture. All their “earnings” are taken away by the so-called husbands or mistresses. The “husbands”
occasionally write from fake addresses to their parents to avoid arousing any suspicion. The areas usedby traffickers to procure women and girls are the isolated districts of Sindhupalchow, Makwanpur,
Dhading and Khavre, Nepal where the population is largely illiterate.
IX. INDIAN LAW
The Principal Act of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 was originally enacted with the title“ The Suppression of Immoral Traffic in Women and Girls Act, 1956 (58Aof 1956)”. The Act was
introduced in Lok Sabha with a view to implementing the International Convention for the Suppressionof Immoral Traffic in Persons and the Exploitation of Prostitution of others signed in New York on 9th
May, 1950. Under Article 23 of the said Convention, traffic in human beings is prohibited and any
contravention of the prohibition is an offence punishable by law. The Statement of Objects and Reasons
appended to the Bill states that legislation on the subject of suppression of immoral traffic does exist ina few States but the laws are neither informed nor do they go far enough. In the remaining States, there
is no bar on the subject at all. Therefore, it was felt necessary and desirable that a Central Law shouldbe passed which will not only secure uniformity but also would be sufficiently deterrent for the purpose.
A special feature of the bill is that it provides that no person or authority other than the State
Government shall establish or maintain any protective home except under a licence issued by the State
Government. This will check the establishment of homes which are really in use for prostitution.
The Act has a limited scope and character. There is no provision in the Act which makes
prostitution per se a criminal offence or punishes a person for indulging in prostitution. It defines
prostitution as promiscuous sexual intercourse for commercial purposes. What is punishable under the
Act is sexual exploitation for commercial purposes or to earn bread thereby. There is such exploitation
in a brothel (Section 3) or when one knowingly lives wholly or in part on the earnings of prostitution ofa woman or girl (Section 4) or procures, induces or takes a woman or girl for the sake of prostitution(Section 5) or detains a woman or girl in premises where prostitution is being carried on (Section 6).
Prostitution by itself is not an offence except when it is committed in the vicinity of a public place orsomebody seduces or solicits a person for the purposes of prostitution. No order could have been passed
against the petitioners for rescue from their rooms simply because they belonged to Badya caste whose
profession is said to be singing and dancing. Medical examination revealed recent sexual intercourse
but sexual intercourse by itself is not an offence (Km. Sangeeta v. State and another, 1996 Cr Ruling
129 (Delhi)]. A perusal of the relevant provisions of the Act goes a long way to show that the purposeand object of the Act is not to abolish ‘prostitute’ or prostitution (Ibid). The Act provides a fertile groundfor legal manipulation.
X. ACTION OF NGOs
The NGOs can play a major role in the rehabilitation of trafficked women. A major trafficking
network was discovered by the Karnataka State Commission for Women in which 12-18 year old girls
were being smuggled from various impoverished districts to contractors who run brothels in Goa. The
contractors were paying the parents for their girl children under false pretenses. Durga Chimire,chairperson of a 98-NGO-strong pressure group National Network Groups Against Trafficking feelsthat the alarmingly low rates of female literacy, coupled with the traditionally low status of the girlchild in Nepal have to be addressed to tackle the problem. There are several shelters run by various

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Kathmandu based NGOs working against trafficking and rehabilitation of girls who manage to escapeor are rescued from Indian brothels. This is not easy work. Relatives of the rescued girls generally do
not want them back and Nepal’s government is worried about the spread of HIV, as many of thetrafficked girls contract HIV while in India. Rehabilitation of trafficked women and children ishampered by lack of government support and an agenda for their rehabilitation. The sending country
may not come forward to claim them and younger children may not know where they originally camefrom. Moreover, a survey of trafficked women in India reveals their reasoning for staying in prostitution(in descending order of significance): poverty /unemployment; lack of proper reintegration services, lackof options; stigma and adverse social attitudes; family expectations and pressure; resignation andacclimatization to the life style (CATW - Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia
Pacific). NGOs can contribute towards their health and well-being instead of their receiving treatment
at the hands of unlicensed doctors, who give the women mood elevators, IV drips of colored water ormedicinal herbs. Moreover, the women pay for this “treatment” with cash from moneylenders, and the
Mafia collects a percentage from the “doctors.” In fact, repatriation is perceived as a cheap way ofgetting rid of HIV infected girls.
In fact India has become one of the favoured destinations of paedophile sex tourists from Europe
and the United States according to The Indian Express, 21 November 1997. Foreign tourists are
frequenting India because of its non-implementation of laws, abundant child prostitutes and the false
idea that there is a lower incidence of AIDS (Rahul Bedi, “Bid to Protect Children As Sex Tourism
Spreads,” 1997). Multinational tour operators, hotel companies, airlines and travel agencies set up thetourism agenda for Goa, India and the world over. In December 1997, a nine-year-old girl from Pune
was found living with a 54-year-old Swiss national in a Goa hotel for over nine months. A local NGO
filed a complaint with the police and the girl was sent to an observation home. When contacted, herfather said she was there with his consent. The man was released following an investigation.
XI. POLICY
A number of investigations into this subject have revealed the need for more empirical research.
There are no solid data on the extent of trafficking, the determinants and processes of trafficking, andthe needs of trafficked persons who return. Gathering such basic information can be given high priority.
Similarly, interventions such as intervention strategies need to be systematically assessed. There havebeen reports of women and girls being prevented from crossing the border despite their vehement
protestations that they are traveling of their own free will.
The support services for returned trafficked girls and women must also be evaluated and improved.
Returnees are often assumed by community members to be immoral and at fault in their own
trafficking. They are also frequently thought to be infected with HIV/AIDS. Thus, they face a double
stigma and require care and support to meet these challenges. Many trafficked persons may haveoriginally left home because of dysfunctional situations, and may not be able to return to their families
safely. Family assessment, therefore, should be improved, along with residential care for girls andwomen who cannot return home.
Anti trafficking interventions need to be refocused so that they do not infringe upon the humanrights of women who wish to migrate but who are at risk of trafficking. Rather then attempting tofrighten women into remaining at home, interventions could provide support systems to permit safe
migration and to help women once they reach their destinations.
A view is that both HIV/AIDS and trafficking control programmes work with vulnerable andpowerless populations, deal with stigma and discrimination against people infected with or affected by
HIV and require similar rights - based responses. Rather than advocating that migration be limited, it
calls for interventions to address the spreading of HIV without compromising the right of freedom of
movement and the right to seek a better standard of living.
Although trafficking is a global phenomenon, governmental and non-governmental attentions andresources vary from region to region and country to country. The international community has classified
trafficking of women as a serious abuse of women and punitive measures, prevention, rescue and68122ND INTERNATIONAL TRAINING COURSEREPORTS OF THE COURSE
rehabilitation have all been used to combat trafficking. However, there is still a lack of political will interms of guaranteeing the human rights of trafficked women. This applied to countries of origin, transit
and destination. Countries have failed to develop appropriate mechanisms of prevention and redress forvictims of trafficking, and have also failed to enforce the existing law against assault, rape, kidnappingand extortion to prosecute traffickers.
There is a need to move from an agenda of rescue, rehabilitation and deportation to an approachthat is designed to protect and promote women’s human rights in countries of origin and destination.
The 1997 European Union Hague Declaration on the Question of Trafficking in Women calls on
Member States to:• Provide or explore the possibilities of providing national rapporteurs to gather and exchange
information on trafficking.
• Undertake information campaigns in countries of destination and origin.
• Recognize that trafficked women are victims of crime and are not treated as illegal immigrants
and deported.
• Provide victims of trafficking with time and support as they decide whether or not to press
charges.
• Provide trafficked women with legal, financial and medical assistance.
• Provide women with temporary residence status and protection during criminal proceedings.
• Train the police and judiciary on the nature and characteristics of trafficking.
• Work within the framework of development co-operation to improve the economic and social
status of women in the countries of origin.
The UN Convention on the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons (1949), and the supplementary
convention on the abolition of slavery, the slave trade and institutions and practices of slavery havebeen signed by most of the SAARC countries, including Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Another important step forward is coordinating an international convention against Transnational
Organized Crime was signed by 140 countries and ratified by six. A total of 101 countries have signed
its Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children
and four have ratified it. States that ratify the Protocol are required to criminalize trafficking, punish
offenders, protect victims and cooperate in seeking out traffickers.
The UN Convention on the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons (1949), and the supplementary
convention on the abolition of slavery, the slave trade and institutions and practices of slavery havebeen signed by most of the SAARC countries, including Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

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