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Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery

Poverty drives the unsuspecting poor into the hands of traffickers

Published reports & articles from 2000 to 2025                                         gvnet.com/humantrafficking/India.htm

Republic of India

India's diverse economy encompasses traditional village farming, modern agriculture, handicrafts, a wide range of modern industries, and a multitude of services. Services are the major source of economic growth, accounting for more than half of India's output with less than one third of its labor force. Slightly more than half of the work force is in agriculture, leading the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government to articulate a rural economic development program that includes creating basic infrastructure to improve the lives of the rural poor and boost economic performance.

The economy has posted an average growth rate of more than 7% in the decade since 1997, reducing poverty by about 10 percentage points.

 

Description: Description: Description: Description: India

India is a source, destination, and transit country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation. Internal forced labor may constitute India's largest trafficking problem; men, women, and children in debt bondage are forced to work in industries such as brick kilns, rice mills, agriculture, and embroidery factories. Although no comprehensive study of forced and bonded labor has been carried out, some NGOs estimate this problem affects tens of millions of Indians. Those from India’s most disadvantaged social economic strata are particularly vulnerable to forced or bonded labor and sex trafficking. Women and girls are trafficked within the country for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced marriage. Children are also subjected to forced labor as factory workers, domestic servants, beggars, and agricultural workers.   - U.S. State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2009   Check out a later country report here or a full TIP Report here

 

 

CAUTION:  The following links have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in India.  Some of these links may lead to websites that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false.  No attempt has been made to verify their authenticity or to validate their content.

HOW TO USE THIS WEB-PAGE

Students

If you are looking for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on this page and others to see which aspects of Human Trafficking are of particular interest to you.  Would you like to write about Forced-Labor?  Debt Bondage? Prostitution? Forced Begging? Child Soldiers? Sale of Organs? etc.  On the other hand, you might choose to include precursors of trafficking such as poverty and hunger. There is a lot to the subject of Trafficking.  Scan other countries as well.  Draw comparisons between activity in adjacent countries and/or regions.  Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources that are available on-line.

Teachers

Check out some of the Resources for Teachers attached to this website.

HELP for Victims

International Organization for Migration
11-4-659
Country code: 91-

Missing Children

CHILDLINE - Toll Free Call 1098 - Night & Day

www.childlineindia.org.in/1098/b1a-telehelpline.htm

[accessed 12 August 2014]

CHILDLINE reaches out to all children in need of care and protection such as: street children, child labourers, children who have been abused, child victims of flesh trade, differently-abled children, child addicts, children in conflict with the law, children in institutions, mentally challenged children, HIV/AIDs infected children, children affected by conflict and disaster, child political refugees, children whose families are in crises.

Website to track missing kids soon

Himanshi Dhawan, Times of India Technology, New Delhi, 22 May 2015

www.gadgetsnow.com/tech-news/Website-to-track-missing-kids-soon/articleshow/47377675.cms

[accessed 18 September 2016]

If you have lost a child or want to report a missing one, there is help at hand. The government for the first time plans to launch a web portal that can be accessed by a common man to upload visuals and details of missing children and help track them. The website khoyapaya.gov.in will act as an enabling platform for citizens to report missing children or those found as well as sightings.

The web portal has been initiated by the ministry of women and child development (WCD) along with the department of electronics and information technology (DEITY) and will be run with the assistance of Childline and local police. It is likely to be launched in June.

Website to track missing children launched

Anasuya Menon, The Hindu, Coimbatore, Feb 10, 2007

www.hindu.com/2007/02/10/stories/2007021013590100.htm

[accessed 10 February 2011]

www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/Website-to-track-missing-children-launched/article14718566.ece

[accessed 9 July 2017]

Parents can post photograph of missing child on the website

Anyone who has lost their child can post a message on this website and a search will be set in motion simultaneously in 40 cities in the country.  Launched by Don Bosco National Forum for Youth at Risk in association with UNICEF, www.missingchildsearch.net will be closely watched and monitored by child welfare organisations in all major cities in the country and a search will be generated immediately. The Don Bosco National Forum for Youth at Risk is a major partner of Childline India Foundation and extends service to hundreds of children who are victims of war, conflict, natural calamities, sexual exploitation, trafficking and HIV/AIDS. They also take care of street and working children.

 

*** FEATURED ARTICLE ***

Slavery in Our Time

Nicholas D. Kristof, The New York Times, January 22, 2006

www.pekingduck.org/2006/01/nicholas-kristof-slavery-in-our-time/

[accessed 12 February 2011]

Historians will look back in puzzlement at the way our 21st century world tolerates the slavery of more than a million children in brothels around the world.

India alone may have half a million children in its brothels, more than any other country in the world. Visit the brothel district in almost any city in India, and you can meet 14-year-old girls who have been kidnapped off the street, or drugged, or offered jobs as maids, and then sold into a world that they often escape only by dying of AIDS.

 

*** ARCHIVES ***

Dynamics Of Child Trafficking In Madhepura District

Manoj Varghese, Jaipur National University Jaipur, Faculty Member

[Long URL]

[accessed 14 February 2022]

Child trafficking is generally attributed to economic crisis at home, falling prey to the agents tempting offers and an aspiration to lead urban life style in cities. In the context of this study, children who went missing or were trafficked from the rural areas of five panchayats in Madhepura district of Bihar for various purposes have been categorized as a case of ‘Child trafficking’

Analysing The Status And Consequences Of Human Trafficking In India

Sidhi Jalan, National University of Study and Research in Law, Ranchi

[Long URL]

[accessed 15 February 2022]

Women are trafficked to the Middle East for commercial sexual exploitation. Indian migrants who migrate willingly every year to the Middle East and Europe for work as domestic servants and low-skilled laborers also sometimes end up being part of the human trafficking industry. In such cases, workers may have been 'recruited by way of fraudulent recruitment practices that lead them directly into situations of forced labor, including debt bondage; in other cases, high debts incurred to pay recruitment fees leave them vulnerable to exploitation by unscrupulous employers in the destination countries, where some are subjected to conditions of involuntary servitude, including non-payment of wages, restrictions on movement, unlawful withholding of passports, and physical or sexual abuse'

Molki: Brides For Sale

Pooja Kini, Makers India, 23 December 2020

in.makers.yahoo.com/molki-brides-for-sale-030634455.html

[accessed 25 December 2020]

In places where the sex ratio is low, the natural consequence is that men do not find brides. Men of the upper castes have more ‘options’ than those of the lower castes who resort to buying brides from other villages. Women are being sold by their parents into marriage without their knowledge or consent. At times, women are deceived or kidnapped by ‘agents’ and sold to families looking for a bride.

This practice, referred to as molki, stems from the phrase Mol ki dulhan which literally translates to ‘bride that has a price’. The woman concerned is appraised like cattle on factors such as virginity, caste and beauty, and then sold. Molki marriages are not registered, casting the validity of the marriage into doubt and reducing the brides to fringe elements. These women are exploited sexually and as free labourers in the fields. They are not permitted to own property. In a study, over 80 per cent of the trafficked brides did not have ration cards and were not on the voter lists. They are also denied spousal rights as they are not considered to be a part of the buyer’s family unit. Upon the death of the husband, the family casts off the bride or sells her to another buyer. Often, women who are not sold have to resort to prostitution to fend for themselves and their children.

The pandemic has created a second crisis in India — the rise of child trafficking

Jessie Yeung and Priyali Sur, CNN, 24 October 2020

www.cnn.com/2020/10/24/asia/india-covid-child-trafficking-intl-hnk-dst/index.html

[accessed 25 October 2020]

One evening in August, a 14-year-old boy snuck out of his home and boarded a private bus to travel from his village in Bihar to Jaipur, a chaotic, crowded and historical city 800 miles away in India's Rajasthan state.

He and his friends had been given 500 rupees (about $7) by a man in their village to "go on vacation" in Jaipur, said the boy, who CNN is calling Mujeeb because Indian law forbids naming suspected victims of child trafficking.

As the bus entered Jaipur, it was intercepted by police.

The man was arrested and charged under India's child trafficking laws, along with two other suspects. Nineteen children, including Mujeeb, were rescued. Jaipur police said they were likely being taken to bangle factories to be sold as cheap labor.

If Mujeeb and Aman hadn't been rescued by police on their way to Jaipur, they might have ended up like Nishad, a 12-year-old boy who was allegedly forced to work in a bangle factory under brutal conditions.

Nishad, whose real identity can't be revealed under Indian law, was brought to Jaipur from Bihar by an alleged trafficker just before the March lockdown. Nishad claimed the man locked him and five other boys in a dingy room without any windows and forced them to make bangles for 15 hours a day. There was no way to call authorities or even contact their families, he said.

"He made us work for so long and if we didn't work, he would hit us. We were not allowed to step outside. He said that if we got out the police would arrest us," said Nishad.

Stolen lives: The harrowing story of two girls sold into sexual slavery

Yudhijit Bhattacharjee, National Geographic Magazine, 28 September 2020

www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2020/10/stolen-lives-harrowing-story-of-two-girls-sold-into-sexual-slavery-feature/

[accessed 30 September 2020]

The day Sayeda left home, the boy she eloped with took her by bus from Khulna to a town near the Indian border. Arriving at night, they walked through a forest until they got to a riverbank. Sayeda noticed others on the same path, including young girls, but didn’t think much of it. At the river’s edge, the boyfriend bribed a policeman, and the two climbed into a boat that dropped them on the other side. They were in India.

The boy took her to a house close to the river, where they stayed for a few nights. There, Sayeda met another girl who also had been brought over from Bangladesh, and she became suspicious. Sayeda confronted her boyfriend, and he told her she was going to work in a brothel. When she refused, he said, “I’ll kill you and dump you in the river.”

Even if she could have escaped, Sayeda didn’t know whom she could have turned to for help. She had entered India illegally, and she didn’t see how she could go to the police. “I got so scared that I said OK,” she said.

Activists warn of sharp rise in human trafficking in near future

Press Trust of India PTI, New Delhi, 2 August 2020

www.deccanherald.com/national/covid-19-activists-warn-of-sharp-rise-in-human-trafficking-in-near-future-868645.html

[accessed 2 August 2020]

Tarannum (name changed) has many cut marks on her wrist, scars that constantly remind her of the several years she spent in a brothel where she was sexually exploited countless times. "Three years of hell," she recalls. Daughter of a fisherman from a cyclone-prone area of the Sundarbans, 13-year-old Tarannum was trafficked by a local shopkeeper in 2012. He tricked her into believing that he would get her a job as a domestic worker with a good salary. Once in Delhi, he sold her to a woman at a brothel. After three years, she was rescued by a local NGO with the help of police. But even after she returned home, the trauma of the past haunted her and she turned suicidal, trying to slit her wrist multiple times. Slowly recuperating now, Tarannum hopes no one ever goes through what she did.

 How Bengal, India’s human trafficking hub, is weaving a turnaround story

Snigdhendu Bhattacharya, Hindustan Times, Kolkata, 11 November 2019

www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/how-bengal-india-s-human-trafficking-hub-is-weaving-a-turnaround-story/story-qrxuWT4lOkH84Q2IX8FC8J.html

[accessed 12 November 2019]

West Bengal accounted for 25% of India’s trafficking cases between 2010 and 2016. In 2016, the state recorded a whopping 44% share of the total cases related to human trafficking in India.

 “There is no denying that West Bengal police played an exemplary role in rescue but the ten-fold decrease looks unrealistic, as the number of children who went missing in 2017 stood as high as the previous year,” said Rishi Kant, co-founder of the NGO ‘Shakti Vahini’ that partnered with the West Bengal police in the rescue of a number of trafficked persons.

As many as 8187 children went missing from West Bengal in 2017 (12.9% of India). The number was slightly less than 8,335 cases reported in 2016 (13.14% of India).

Incidentally, the US State Department’s Trafficking in Persons Report published in June 2019 alleged, “Some authorities in West Bengal and Jharkhand allegedly ordered police to register trafficking cases as “missing persons” to reduce the number of trafficking cases in official statistics.”

The report claimed to have received these allegations from NGOs working in this field.

Hitting Brothel Owners where it Hurts

Nicholas D. Kristof, The New York Times, Calcutta, January 24, 2006

query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=F60913F9385B0C778EDDA80894DE404482

[accessed 14 July 2013]

[24 January 2006] Imagine what you would have done if you'd been in Hasina Bibi's sandals.  She was a lonely 16-year-old working in a garment factory in Bangladesh when an older employee began mothering her. They grew close, and one day the older woman gave Hasina some cakes to eat.  Two days later, Hasina emerged from a drug-induced stupor in India, sold to a brothel in faraway Gujarat. The brothel's owner beat Hasina and threatened to deform her face with acid if she tried to escape. She had to do whatever the customers wanted, with or without condoms.

2020 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: India

U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, 30 March 2021

www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/india/

[accessed 9 June 2021]

PROHIBITION OF FORCED OR COMPULSORY LABOR

Bonded labor continued to be a concern in many states; however, no reliable statistics were available on the number of bonded laborers in the country. Most bonded labor occurred in agriculture. Nonagricultural sectors with a high incidence of bonded labor were stone quarries, brick kilns, rice mills, construction, embroidery factories, and beedi (hand-rolled cigarettes) production. Those from the most disadvantaged social strata were the most vulnerable to forced labor and labor trafficking.

PROHIBITION OF CHILD LABOR AND MINIMUM AGE FOR EMPLOYMENT

The International Labor Organization estimated there were 10 million child workers between ages five and 14 in the country. The majority of child labor occurred in agriculture and the informal economy, in particular in stone quarries, in the rolling of cigarettes, and in informal food service establishments. Children were also exploited in domestic service and in the sugarcane, construction, textile, cotton, and glass bangle industries in addition to begging.

Commercial sexual exploitation of children occurred (see section 6, Children). Nonstate armed groups recruited and used children as young as 12 to organize hostility against the government in Jammu and Kashmir, including Maoist and Naxalite groups. Nonstate armed groups sometimes forced children to handle weapons and explosive devices and used them as human shields, sexual slaves, informants, and spies.

Forced child labor, including bonded labor, also remained a serious problem. Employers engaged children in forced or indentured labor as domestic servants and beggars, as well as in quarrying, brick kilns, rice mills, silk-thread production, and textile embroidery.

Freedom House Country Report

2020 Edition

freedomhouse.org/country/india/freedom-world/2020

[accessed 28 April 2020]

G4. DO INDIVIDUALS ENJOY EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY AND FREEDOM FROM ECONOMIC EXPLOITATION?

The constitution bans human trafficking, and bonded labor is illegal, but the practice is fairly common. Estimates of the number of affected workers range from 20 to 50 million. A 2016 law allows children below the age of 14 to engage in “home-based work,” as well as other occupations between the ages of 14 and 18. Children are not permitted to work in potentially hazardous industries, though the rule is routinely flouted. There have been reports of complicity by law enforcement officials in human trafficking.

2017 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor

Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking, Bureau of International Labor Affairs, US Dept of Labor, 2018

www.dol.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ilab/ChildLaborReport_Book.pdf

[accessed 18 April 2019]

www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ILAB/child_labor_reports/tda2017/ChildLaborReportBook.pdf

[accessed 28 April 2020]

Note:: Also check out this country’s report in the more recent edition DOL Worst Forms of Child Labor

[page 516]

Within India, children are trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation and for forced labor in domestic service. (97; 95; 75) Children are also forced to work as bonded laborers in brick kilns and stone quarries to pay off family debts owed to moneylenders and employers. (2; 101) Children from India’s rural areas migrate or are trafficked for employment in industries, such as spinning mills and cottonseed production, in which they are forced to work in hazardous environments for little or no pay. (73; 25) In addition, armed Maoist groups reportedly recruited children to serve as soldiers in the states of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Odisha, and West Bengal. (99; 75)

Child victims of commercial sexual exploitation, forced labor, and human trafficking are more likely to be children from marginalized groups, such as low-caste Hindus, members of tribal communities, and religious minorities. (75) Children from marginalized groups also face barriers to accessing education. These children are sometimes subjected to discrimination and harassment from their teachers. (102; 103; 104).

India: Freeing the Small Hands of the Silk Industry

Ranjitha Balasubramanyam, World in Progress, Deutsche Welle DW-World.DE, 01.09.2007

www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,1114659,00.html

[accessed 12 February 2011]

TINY HANDS AT WORK - In the glow of apparent prosperity, what went unnoticed for the most part were tiny hands that pulled, twisted and separated the yarn, so the fiber could become strong enough for weaving into cloth -- tiny hands that often bled from cuts and sometimes suffered permanent damage at the unrelenting machines in front of them. They belonged to children as young as 6 or 8, who stood all day on tired feet, laboring away at the twisting machines.

These children worked in the midst of ear-splitting noise all day long, in many cases for up to 14 hours a day. Those were the average working conditions for the children of Magadi. No one in their town had heard of children’s rights, let alone of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Child labourers speak out

Ayanjit Sen, BBC News, Delhi, 8 September, 2003

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3091676.stm

[accessed 12 February 2011]

BEATEN UP - For 11-year-old Mansoor, life was hellish.  "I used to work 15 hours a day and earn about 20 rupees (less than $0.5) per week," he said.  Mansoor, who is from Muzaffarpur district in Bihar, said he used sleep hungry in a small dingy room on most days after work. He has been working for the past nine months.  "My parents came into contact with a middleman who had promised good money for working in Delhi," he said.

SOLD THREE TIMES - Narayani, in her 50s, said she had been sold three times during the last three decades by her employers.  "I was working with my husband and three children in the northern state of Haryana in a factory, and all that we used to get as salary was food," said Narayani.

Never too young to be sold

Sreyashi Dastidar, The Telegraph, October 16, 2007

www.telegraphindia.com/1071016/asp/opinion/story_8436850.asp

[accessed 10 February 2011]

One wishes the circumstances were the same, but they seldom are. How does one equate a girl lured away from a village in Meghalaya to a brothel in Delhi with the one pushed into beedi-binding by her own parents just so there is enough money to feed all the mouths in the family? Or a boy thrown into the laps of paedophiliac foreign tourists in Goa with one who runs away from starvation and poverty at home, to be picked up and employed by a brick-kiln owner who gives him a paltry daily wage and lunch? Which arm of the State — women and child development, labour, police, or home affairs if there is border-crossing — has failed to do its job in each of these cases, and which is responsible for ensuring that the trafficked person gets a livelihood and a respectable life?

This is why trafficking is such a tricky crime in developing countries with their many areas of darkness. In Haryana, for instance, where it is acceptable to destroy female foetuses and kill baby girls, young women are trafficked from Bengal and the Northeast and forced into marriage to keep the family line going. How does one, in the absence of a complaint from the girl or her family, initiate criminal proceedings against those who claim the girl as their daughter-in-law?

Police rescue trafficking suspect from mob fury

KalingaTimes Correspondent, Kendrapara (Orissa), July 17, 2007

www.kalingatimes.com/orissa_news/news/20070717_Police_rescue_trafficking_suspect.htm

[access date unavailable]

Police on Tuesday rescued a former employee of a Bhubaneswar-based placement agency facing charges of trafficking youths from this region to Malaysia from a frenzied mob in Nikiraia village, 15 km from here. The villagers gave vent to their anger as about four youths from the area reportedly enslaved in Malaysia since their departure three months back.

The mob badly beat up Sunil Das and held him captive in the village. The irate mob pounced on him demanding the refund of money that the Malaysia bound youths had paid to the placement agency, police said.

A Dalit youth from this part of the state had undergone a two-month-long nightmarish ordeal in Malaysia and escaped from the clutches of a well-knit human trafficking racket, bringing to the fore the harrowing plight of a number of unemployed local youths still stranded in Malaysia in their quest for greener pastures.

The Enslavement Of Dalit And Indigenous Communities In India, Nepal And Pakistan Through Debt Bondage [PDF]

UN Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, February 2001

At one time this article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]

[accessed 6 September 2011]

www.antislavery.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/goonesekere.pdf

[accessed 6 March 2018]

SUMMARY - This paper describes the gross and continuing violation of the rights of millions of people in India, Pakistan and Nepal, who are trapped in debt bondage and forced to work to repay loans. Their designation as persons belonging outside the Hindu caste system is a major determining factor of their enslavement. Evidence from all three countries shows that the vast majority (80%-98%) of bonded labourers are from communities designated as “untouchable”, to whom certain occupations are assigned, or from indigenous communities. In the same way that caste status is inherited, so debts are passed on to the succeeding generations.

Maid's story of torture shines light on India slave labour

Agence France-Presse AFP, New Delhi, 18 October 2013

dawn.com/news/1050159/maids-story-of-torture-shines-light-on-india-slave-labour

[accessed 19 Oct 2013]

Sitting on a hospital bed with a thick bandage around her head, an Indian teenager recounts what she says was four months of horrific torture at the hands of her employer.

“She would pull my hair out, violently hit me over the head... most of the times she got angry out of the blue,” the 18-year-old told AFP, as she recovered in a New Delhi hospital.

The girl says she was beaten with belts, brooms and chains while locked in the home where she was hired to work as a maid in an upscale neighbourhood in the capital.

“She wouldn't give me any money, make any phone calls, interact with anyone. She ripped all my papers that had phone numbers (of her relatives) into bits,” said the girl, whose left cheek and chest are covered in scars.

Her story made headlines this month after she was rescued by police and social rights campaigners who said she had been slashed with knives and bitten by dogs.

The case is far from unique in a country home to almost half of the world's slave population. A report released this week called the Global Slavery Index found an estimated 13.95 million people in India are victims of forced labour.

Hyd woman offered salesgirl job in UAE, sold to sheikh, returns home

Asian Age, Hyderabad, 7 April 2018

www.asianage.com/india/all-india/070418/hyd-woman-offered-salesgirl-job-in-uae-sold-to-sheikh-returns-home.html

[accessed 10 April 2018]

The woman narrated that the job of a saleswoman in a Dubai supermarket came to her through an agent in Hyderabad.  However, the agent sent her to Sharjah in United Arab Emirates on March 18, where she was initially confined in an office.  "Later a Sheikh bought me and took me to Bahrain. From there I was taken to Oman and kept as a domestic help," she said.  She also added that she was not given adequate food, was tortured and made to work excessively.

Somehow, she was able to reach out to her mother and informed her about the situation, after which the family reached out to the Indian embassy in Muscat.  The foreign ministry was also alerted after which they intervened and rescued the woman.

Giving flesh trade survivors a life of dignity

Dilnaz Boga, Daily News & Analysis DNA,  Mumbai, 11 June 2012

www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_giving-flesh-trade-survivors-a-life-of-dignity_1700697

[accessed 11 June 2012]

Like the 140 others like her, Reema was trained by experts handpicked by SCI for starting a new life post-rescue from a brothel. “Apart from rescuing girls from brothels, we give vocational training to the freed girls ending up in state homes, like the two at Deonar, between 10am and 5pm,” says SCI CEO Dr Subhadra Anand. At a time a batch of 20 to 25 girls are brought to Sahas Kendra, the rehabilitation centre at Bandra-Kurla complex, and imparted training hospitality, computer graphics, tailoring, nursing and housekeeping, to name a few, says legal consultant Nandini Thakkar, also a programme manager at SCI.

After working as a trainee in the hospitality sector, Reema went on to become a trainer of supervisors within four years. “Her success story, like many others’ here, was all about empowerment and independence,” says Thakkar. After three months, we identify the survivor’s skills and conduct a career test, which helps in deciding her vocation. “Following this, we start training and counselling them for placements later. A year down the line, the girls don’t need us anymore,” explains Thakkar.

Testimony of Anita

Anita Sharma Bhattarai, Polaris Project Action Center -- Special Thanks to: Protection Project

zh-cn.connect.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=149013918476023

[accessed 10 February 2011]

tinyhandsnepal.blogspot.com/

[accessed 30 January 2018]

I felt very scared that evening and I refused to eat anything. I soon noticed that many men were coming in and out of the house and I realized it was a brothel. I began howling and shouting. I said that I wanted to leave. Renu Lama told me that I was ignorant. She said that I did not just come easily and I could not go easily. She said that I had been bought and I would have to work as a prostitute in order to pay them back.

On the fourth day that I was in the brothel, my first client came to me. I refused to have sex with him. He had already paid so he grabbed me and tried to rape me. I fought him off. He had managed to get my clothes off but he was very frustrated because I was resisting him so much. He stormed out and asked for his money back. A couple of the brothel owners (voluntary prostitutes) came in and beat me. When they were done, the same man came back in.

Some of my associates overheard the owners saying that they were also planning to sell me to a brothel in Sarat because I was too much trouble. I decided that I could not wait until the boy returned from Nepal. I had to try again to run away. I asked some of the other girls to run with me, but they were too afraid. We had been told that we would be killed if we tried to run away. But I had determined that I would rather die than stay in the brothel. The other girls pooled their money together and came up with two hundred rupees. In exchange for the 200 rupees, I promised that if I made it out alive, I would get help for them.

Bangla aiding NE human trafficking

The Assam Tribune, Guwahati, March 27, 2009

www.assamtribune.com/scripts/details.asp?id=mar2809/at09

[accessed 10 February 2011]

The Director General of Assam Police GM Srivastava today stated that neighbouring countries, especially Bangladesh, continue to fuel the growth of human trafficking cases in the Northeast, particularly Assam. “There have been many instances where we have seen that professional human traffickers from Bangladesh after marrying a girl from a remote area in the State elopes back home and after keeping her in the neighbouring country for some time, finally sells her to brothels in metros of India,” said Srivastava, adding that the number of duped girls, who are being duped by this racket of human traffickers, is increasing in the State.

Attributing the rise of human trafficking cases in the region to poverty and the simplicity of the people here, the Assam Police chief stressed on the need for an attitudinal change amongst the people to wipe out the menace from the society.

Indian workers' struggle shines light on human trafficking, slave labor

Sunil Freeman, Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSLweb.org), July 4, 2008

www.pslweb.org/site/News2?JServSessionIdr009=v29yt8h827.app5b&page=NewsArticle&id=9509&news_iv_ctrl=1261

[accessed 10 February 2011]

www.liberationnews.org/08-07-04-indian-workers-struggle-shines-html/

[accessed 30 January 2018]

The plight of immigrant Indian workers who were deceived into virtual slavery has brought attention to the vile practice of human trafficking.  Indian workers protest slave-like conditions before the Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., June 11.  The workers took jobs with Signal International to work on the U.S. Gulf Coast following the devastation of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The Indian workers were told they would receive "green cards," allowing them permanent legal residence in the United States. Many who left their families behind in search of better wages had been told they would be able to bring their relatives.  The promises were all lies. Instead of receiving permanent legal status, the workers—who had paid fees of up to $20,000 to Signal—received 10-month H-2B temporary worker visas.  The workers were essentially trapped, and their employers knew it. Their documents were stolen and wages were withheld. For all practical purposes, slavery had returned to Louisiana.

Prostitution is killing childhood in northeast, says study

Maitreyee Boruah, Indo-Asian News Service IANS, Guwahati, May 31 2008

www.thaindian.com/newsportal/uncategorized/prostitution-is-killing-childhood-in-northeast-says-study_10054950.html

[accessed 10 February 2011]

www.dnaindia.com/india/report-prostitution-is-killing-childhood-in-northeast-study-1167633

[accessed 10 February 2019]

All is not well with children in India's northeast. A study conducted by a Guwahati-based NGO along with the police has revealed that a shocking 20 percent involved in prostitution in the region are aged between 11 and 17 years.

In addition, the report also states that most of the children are victims of acute physical torture. "They are initially raped and flogged almost to death to take up the profession," the report said.  Almost half of the child prostitutes were from Assam, followed by Meghalaya, Manipur, Tripura, Nagaland, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh, said Sarma. Some of the victims were also sold to brothels in Mumbai, Pune and Ahmedabad.  "We have reports that sheikhs from the Middle East are also buying northeastern girls from these brothels. Also, trafficking gangs from Southeast Asian countries are taking a keen interest in the girls because of their Mongoloid features," Sarma said.

CBI goes after foster parents in child racket

K Praveen Kumar, Times News Network (The Times of India) TNN, Chennai, May 14, 2008

timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Chennai/CBI_goes_after__foster_parents_in_child_racket/articleshow/3037980.cms

[accessed 10 February 2011]

The case had originated on the basis of complaints from parents about missing children. One of them, the child of Kathiravel and Nagamani, pavement-dwellers in Pulianthope, had been allegedly kidnapped and sold to a Dutch couple.  Similarly, the four-year-old child of Sylvia, a woman from Otteri, was kidnapped from an auto and sold to a couple in Australia. Another couple from the city had lost their one-and-a-half-year old child, who was traced to the US.

The racket was busted in the city in the first week of May 2005 after the Otteri police received specific information about kidnapping of children in and around Otteri.  The police team then started investigations and arrested seven people identified as Varadharajan, Sheikh Dawood, Navjeen, Sabeera, Manoharan, Salima and K.T. Dawood. They subsequently traced the racket to an illegal adoption agency, Malaysian Social Service, which had kidnapped street children and sold them to foreigners after forging certificates. The case was subsequently transferred to the Crime Branch. htsc

Child trafficking could become rampant in state unless tackled urgently, feels activist

KanglaOnline, Imphal, Apr 8, 2008

-- Source: www.kanglaonline.com/index.php?template=headline&newsid=41695&typeid=1

www.antitraf.net/home.php?mode=more&id=29&lang=en

[accessed 10 February 2011]

Every year thousands are trafficked across India for a variety of reasons including sexual exploitation, bonded labour, organ transplantation, adoption, coerced marriage etc. Women and children are particularly vulnerable to human trafficking and in Manipur child trafficking appears to be a growing epidemic. Though the number of cases are rising, the state government has failed to take any measures Anee Mangsatabam, the chairman of Child Welfare Committee told IFP.

Various NGOs and organisations of the state who are working to prevent human trafficking in the state, have said that due to lack of funds and other reasons they were unable to take any action against the traffickers.

Assam human trafficking: A startling revelation!

Jogesh Doley, merinews.com, Apr 06, 2008

www.merinews.com/article/assam-human-trafficking-a-startling-revelation/131876.shtml

[accessed 10 February 2011]

cabt.empowerpeople.org.in/2010/11/assam-human-trafficking-startling.html

[accessed 28 April 2020]

Every year thousands of tea tribe girls are lured by people and taken to different parts of India, to work as slave and in most of the cases they lands up in brothels. Those who are forced into sex work, or who are vulnerable to sexual exploitation as domestic labourers, are particularly at risk of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV, and unwanted pregnancy.

The plight of the women from this community has remained unheard and unattended, since ages and they are have no other options but to migrate and to follow the people who lure them and assure them good jobs out side the state. - htcp

Punjab girls' NRI dream turns nightmare

Vikram Chowdhary, NDTV, Chandigarh, March 26, 2008

www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20080045064&ch=3/26/2008%202:56:00%20PM

[accessed 10 February 2011]

cabt.empowerpeople.org.in/2010/11/punjab-girls-nri-dream-turns-nightmare.html

[accessed 30 January 2018]

Every year thousands of Punjabis fly to foreign lands for employment and better future. But for some, this dream turns sour as they are cheated by travel agents and given false assurances.

It was the last thing her father, Gurdev Singh, expected to hear.  He had sold land and took loans to pay Rs eight lakh to a travel agent for her job in London. But she ended up in Ukraine where she was forced into prostitution.

"We ran away and sought help from a lady in Ukraine and narrated my entire story and told her that my travel agent took away my passport and travel documents. With her help, I was able to contact my family," added Manjit Kaur.

The scourge of human trafficking in India

Sandhya Nigam, merinews.com, Mar 17, 2008

www.merinews.com/article/the-scourge-of-human-trafficking-in-india/131079.shtml

[accessed 10 February 2011]

cabt.empowerpeople.org.in/2010/11/scourge-of-human-trafficking-in-india.html?m=0

[accessed 28 April 2020]

When Mona was 13 years, her mother died and her father remarried. The stepmother was uncomfortable with Mona and wanted to send her away for some job, where she would be able to look after herself. Along came a ”contractor” who arranged jobs for youngsters as domestic help, etc. He paid a certain sum of money to the stepmother and took Mona to a town far away. He got her a job in a massage parlour as a ‘receptionist’. Even before Mona got to know the work profile, she realized that she had been trapped into sexual exploitation. She had become a sexual slave to the ‘customers’ who frequented the place for full-body massage.

Ravi promises support to Indian trafficking victims in US

NDTV, Indo-Asian News Service IANS, March 09, 2008

www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20080043556&ch=3/9/2008%2010:55:00%20PM

[accessed 10 February 2011]

indiannewsfornris2.blogspot.com/2008/03/ravi-promises-support-to-indian.html

[accessed 30 January 2018]

About 100 Indian victims of human trafficking in the US have found support from Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi who has promised all help.  The workers, who Wednesday quit working for Signal International at Pascagoula shipyard in Mississippi, met in New Orleans, Louisiana, Saturday to discuss their course of action, said Stephen Boykewich, a media spokesperson for the New Orleans Workers' Centre for Racial Justice that is helping them.  The workers were recruited by Dewan Consultants of Mumbai, and brought by Signal, a marine construction company, to the US over a year ago and made to live and work in abysmal conditions.

'Dr Kidney' arrest exposes Indian organ traffic

Sandhya Srinivasan, Inter Press Service News Agency IPS, Mumbai, Feb 22, 2008

www.traffickingproject.org/2008/02/dr-kidney-arrest-exposes-indian-organ.html

[accessed 26 January 2016]

www.ipsnews.net/2008/02/health-south-asia-hub-for-global-organ-trade/

[accessed 28 April 2020]

The arrest of "Doctor Kidney" Amit Kumar for running a sizeable racket in live kidneys has highlighted the role that South Asia plays as the hub of an international trade in human organs.  A sophisticated but unregulated healthcare industry, a "donor pool" of desperately poor people ready to sell a kidney, and a corrupt monitoring system have combined to create a special brand of "medical tourism" in the region, especially in India and neighboring Pakistan.

Kumar is accused of luring poor laborers to his "hospital" in the New Delhi suburb of Gurgaon with promises of job offers or large sums of money. Typically, they were promised 300,000 rupees (US$7,500) but paid only 30,000 ($750) after the surgery, police said.  He is alleged to have conducted more than 500 transplants over an unspecified period, charging up to $50,000 dollars for each operation. Investigators say his patients came from Britain, the United States, Turkey, Nepal, Dubai, Syria and Saudi Arabia.

Four child labourers freed

Times News Network (The Times of India) TNN, Nagpur, Feb 19, 2008

timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Nagpur/Four_child_labourers_freed/articleshow/2793754.cms

[accessed 10 February 2011]

Saddam said, "Our parents face severe hardships in making both ends meet due to abject poverty. Sagir took advantage of this and one day he came to our house and offered to 'help' the family by ensuring education for us. Gaining our parents' confidence and consent, Sagir brought us to Nagpur." He added, "When we arrived in the city, Sagir took us to his zari embroidery unit in Farooq Nagar, near Teka Naka. He forced us to work in the embroidery unit. We used to work right from 8 am to 2 am, and he (Sagir) used to pay us a very meagre Rs 15 to Rs 20 per week."

New cases on human trafficking

Chandra Bhushan Pandey, Times News Network (The Times of India) TNN, Motihari, Feb 10, 2008

timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Patna/New_cases_on_human_trafficking/articleshow/2770488.cms

[accessed 10 February 2011]

Trafficking of poor girls by unscrupulous persons or gangs along the Indo-Nepal border here is common, but local people were shocked to know that a father sold his daughter and a husband sold his young wife for money.

West Bengals sex workers remarkable fight against HIV

Soma Mitra, ANI-News, Kolkata, Dec 30, 2007

www.thaindian.com/newsportal/india-news/west-bengals-sex-workers-remarkable-fight-against-hiv_10010751.html

[accessed 10 February 2011]

To stop human trafficking in sex trade, a self-regulatory board has been established by the sex workers.  The board works as a filter and it checks whether the new girl joining the trade is an adult or a minor. This board also tries to find out if any new girl joining the profession is under any pressure to do so.  This has been very successful way to check human trafficking, police raids have also reduced considerably, said Swapna Gayen, who too is a sex worker in Sonagachi for over two decades.

Is Christmas really Merry for Indian Children?

Shishir Srivastava, merinews.com, Dec 25, 2007

www.merinews.com/article/is-christmas-really-merry-for-indian-children/128809.shtml

[accessed 10 February 2011]

The much-hyped policy against child labour has shown little results. In Shahpur village in Vaishali district in Bihar, children were being used as beasts of burden. But the mindset of people was such that, none of them wanted to help those children. The boys were being used instead of bullocks for ploughing the land and the land under question belongs to the minister for rural development Raghuvansh Prasad’s brother Raghuraj Singh. Child labour right under the nose of the ministry!

Children under the age of 14 are forced to work in glass, fireworks, and most commonly, carpet-making factories. India has the largest number of uneducated children in the world. We boast of abysmal numbers, with 75 million children suffering from malnutrition and more than a 100 million being uneducated. The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, the Mid Day meal scheme have not shown the desirous results yet, with 70 per cent dropout rate of children before the 10th standard.

Trafficking victim awaits permanent home

Moyna, Expressindia, Gurgaon, Dec 09, 2007

expressindia.indianexpress.com/story_print.php?storyId=248285

[accessed 14 August 2014]

BOOK:: Enakshi Ganguly Thukral, Still Out of Focus: Status of India's Children, 2008

[Long URL]

[accessed 28 April 2020]

Abandoned at the Gurgaon bus stand on Thursday, a 14-year-old victim of human trafficking is left in the lurch with no one willing to offer her a solution, or a long-term shelter. Neither the local police stations nor NGOs are ready to take care of her.

A resident of Gopalganj in Bihar, the victim was married off to a 45-year-old man (one Pramod) as her father could not repay money he had borrowed, the victim has said. The marriage took place in Bihar on March 10, and she was brought to Rohtak a couple of months ago, the victim said.

Trading flesh, selling souls

Deccan Herald, December 8, 2007

At one time this article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]

[accessed 6 September 2011]

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), between two to three million people are trafficked annually in and out of India. Most disturbingly, a large number of people, especially girls and women, from states such as Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Orissa and the north-eastern region, are trafficked to the metros such as Delhi and Mumbai.

People from these states are trafficked to work in brothels, dance bars, pubs, restaurants, friendship clubs, massage parlours and for domestic chores, says Dr P M Nair, a senior police official and co-author of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) study entitled 'Trafficking in Women and Children in India'.

Human trafficking burst in Chhattisgarh, 400 villagers rescued

Press Trust of India PTI, Nov 16, 2007

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-human-trafficking-burst-in-chhattisgarh-400-villagers-rescued-1133523

[accessed 14 August 2014]

Over 400 villagers from Mahasamund district have been rescued by the Chhattisgarh government officials when they were being transported outside the state, a senior official said on Friday.

"All the villagers were put inside the containers which did not have have sufficient ventilation or light and were being transported like animals," she said.

Women emerge as primary victims in trafficking

Nava Thakuria, Law Resource India, October 28, 2007 -- National Network of Lawyers for Rights and Justice NNLRJ

indialawyers.wordpress.com/2007/10/28/women-emerge-as-primary-victims-in-trafficking/

[accessed 10 February 2011]

Porous borders with economically poorer Bangladesh and Nepal (from where none need visa to visit India) aggravate the problem of cross-border trafficking. Bangladesh remained a source country for women and children for a quite a long time, traffickers target their preys in the poverty stricken rural areas.  On the other hand, Nepal is identified as a source country in the region. Fair looking Nepali young women are the primary victims of the trafficking, though new trend emerges with attraction for boys too. Unconfirmed statistics reveal that in average 12,000 Nepali women with minors are trafficked every year for sexual exploitation in outer countries. Most of the trafficked women from Nepal were later found infected with HIV/AIDS and also tuberculosis.

Addressing the conference, the minister Ms Chowdhury also argued that trafficking is by and large a gendered phenomenon. The trafficking in India is primarily for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation. There are nearly three million sex workers in India and 40 per cent of them are children or adolescent girls. Statistics reveal that children below the age of 10 years are also found in the brothel of Indian cities like Mumbai and Delhi now a day, the minister disclosed.  "Many believe that having sex with young and virgin girls would cure them of diseases. It is nonsense," Ms Chowdhury uttered. She emphasized on reducing the demand for prostitutes, engagement of children in workplaces, use of forced labour and empowering all collaborative efforts of governments, NGOs and other institutions to deal with the situation. - htcp

25 arrested for human trafficking; 200 labourers rescued in Indian state

Nam News Network NNN & Press Trust of India PTI, Bolangir (Orissa), 21 October 2007

www.twocircles.net/2007oct20/25_arrested_human_trafficking_200_labourers_rescued_indian_state.html

[accessed 10 February 2011]

At least 200 persons, including women and children, were rescued from forced labour and 25 middlemen were arrested in this regard, police said Friday.

The rescued include 70 persons, who were confined for three days in a forest in the jurisdiction of Turekela police station area and 30 others, who were rescued from Titilagarh railway station.

UN seeks end to human trafficking

Sanjoy Majumder, BBC News, Delhi, 10 October 2007

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7037154.stm

[accessed 11 February 2011]

GOALS - Every day in South Asia children and young women are lured or taken from their homes with promises of a job, marriage or a place in the entertainment industry.  Instead, they end up in the sex trade or as forced labour.  India is the hub of this trade, with organised crime syndicates trafficking women and children both within the country and from across the border in Nepal or Bangladesh.

Sarpanch held for human trafficking [PDF]

Express News Service India, 6 Oct 2007

www.rsis.edu.sg/nts/resources/nts-alert/oct%202007-1.pdf

[accessed 30 August 2012]

[page 8]  On a tipoff, Patnagarh police, led by DSP (crime) N C Dandsena, rescued the 40 labourers when they were being taken to a nearby railway station to work in a brick kiln unit.  Police said the Sarpanch had given some money to the labourers in advance and forced them to go to Hyderabad. They were to work in the brick kiln for five months.

Over 650 Indian trafficking victims rescued: UNODC [PDF]

Press Trust of India, 3 Oct 2007

www.nts-pd.org/admin/affix/1193046531.pdf

[accessed 11 February 2011]

[page 7]  ANTI-TRAFFICKING EFFORTS BEARING FRUITS - Over 650 Indians, including 138 minors, who were victims to human trafficking, were rescued during the first six months of this year, an United Nations agency said here today.

He claimed the average age of girls being trafficked in South Asia was dropping.  "While in 1980, the average age of trafficked girls was 14 to 16 years, it dropped to 10-14 years in 1994. The figure in 2006 has decreased," he said.

Human trafficking has become a billion-dollar business: UN report

Luit Neil Don, merinews.com, Sep 26, 2007

www.merinews.com/article/human-trafficking-has-become-a-billion-dollar-business-un-report/126623.shtml

[accessed 11 February 2011]

The United Nations report also said, that girls and women from West Bengal and Assam are being increasingly trafficked to Punjab and Haryana, where they are sexually exploited until they bear a male child.

“(There is an) emerging pattern of trafficking in girls from West Bengal and Assam to the more prosperous states of Punjab and Haryana, where the gender gap is most acute…The woman is either abandoned or passed onto another man after the birth of the male child,” the study said.

Human trafficking helps spread HIV/AIDS in Asia: UN

Ranga Sirilal, Reuters, Colombo, Aug 22, 2007

www.reuters.com/article/idUSL22325220070822

[accessed 11 February 2011]

"Trafficking ... contributes to the spread of HIV by significantly increasing the vulnerability of trafficked persons to infection," said Caitlin Wiesen-Antin, HIV/AIDS regional coordinator, Asia and Pacific, for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).  "Both human trafficking and HIV greatly threaten human development and security."

Major human trafficking routes run between Nepal and India and between Thailand and neighbors like Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar. Many of the victims are young teenage girls who end up in prostitution.  "The link between human trafficking and HIV/AIDS has only been identified fairly recently," Wiesen-Antin told the International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific.

Church organizes struggle against human trafficking

Union of Catholic Asian UCA News, Guwahati, 6/4/2007

www.ucanews.com/story-archive/?post_name=/2007/06/04/church-organizes-struggle-against-human-trafficking-in-northeast-india&post_id=5841

[accessed 14 August 2014]

Many girls from the region are also taken to Indian cities with promises of jobs, said Shimray, a native of Manipur state.  Shimray said many women are taken from their homes after being promised jobs as domestic maids. The educated ones are promised jobs in hotels and city firms, she added. In many cases, those who entrap the women are members of their own families, relatives or people close to them.

In the period, the state recorded 3,718 missing female adults. Among them, 1,837 are still untraceable. During the same period 4,259 girls went missing and only 1,918 were traced, Borah said.

Guard Against Human Trafficking

Manu Aiyappa, Times News Network (The Times of India) TNN, Hubli, May 4, 2007

timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Bangalore/Guard_Against_Human_Trafficking/articleshow/1999535.cms

[accessed 11 February 2011]

These marriage offers come for a consideration ranging between Rs 5,000 and Rs 1 lakh,which are ascertained on the basis of her beauty. In some situations, poor family members sell children hoping that they will get a good life, job or education. However, most of them end up in a brothel or simply they are forced to have sex with clientele."

Traffickers often use local people (sub-agents) in a community or village to find young women and children, and target families who are poor and vulnerable. "One of the major problems with making arrests is that the victim's family does not complain as it does not want to be used as witnesses against the agents or gangs involved in trafficking," an officer said.

Slavery In India

Author/Publisher unknown - Apr 26, 2008

www.orkut.com/Main#CommMsgs?tid=2596748312649411734&cmm=48174284&hl=en

[accessed 14 July 2013]

The increase in human trafficking cases in the last couple of years is worrying NGOs and exposes the government’s apathy towards the social evil.  Figures say that more than 60 girls from Karnataka, who fell prey to human trafficking, have been rescued from brothels and red light areas in Mumbai, Kolkata and Delhi.  These rescued girls, in the age-group of 12 to 20 years, are mostly from the northern districts of Bijapur, Bagalkot, Shimoga, Mysore, Mandya and Chamrajnagar.  They fall easy prey to the agents who assure them of jobs and attractive earnings, but they land up in brothels.

State unaware of child abuse situation, projecting deflated figues

newindpress, Bhubaneswar Orissa, April 12 2007

At one time this article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]

[accessed 6 September 2011]

The pilgrim town of Puri is a haven for child prostitution and rampant paedophilia. A recent study conducted by the Institute of Socio Economic Development with support from United Nations Development Fund for Women says that Puri is the heart of child trafficking and accounts for over 43 percent of the cases.

But the State Administration and Police make no attempt to move because the holy town also happens to be a tourist hotspot.

But the real cause of concern lies elsewhere. Domestic abuse continues unabated and even in the face of newer and stringent legislation. Having children as domestic helps is a common practice and they are the major victims of abuse.

The sensational incident of child torture by royals of Khariar in 2004 had amply revealed the magnitude of the problem. The Crime Branch of Orissa Police arrested the former royal BP Singh Deo and his wife Pushpalata Singh Deo who allegedly branded their 8-year-old domestic help.

The new and stringent legislation has not been able to rein in the menace. Children are not only afraid of reporting the abuse in fear of retribution, loss of livelihood also deters them to disclose.

How to change the world - The role of the social entreprenuer

Nikhil Mustaffa, The Daily Mirror, March 15, 2007

At one time this article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]

[accessed 6 September 2011]

As Childline expanded to new cities, the call-tracking system also emerged as an important source of child protection information. National data showed that the biggest killer of street children was tuberculosis, but regional call patterns revealed a variety of local problems. In Jaipur, for example, childline received reports of abuse in the garment and jewelry industries. In Varanasi, there were reports of children being abducted to work in the sari industry. In Delhi, many calls came from middle-class children. In Nagpur, a transit hub, there were frequent reports of children abandoned in train stations. In Goa, a beach resort, a major problem was the sexual abuse of children by foreign tourists.

Panel Draws Attention to Human Trafficking

The Blue & Gray, Georgetown University, March 12, 2007

At one time this article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]

[accessed 6 September 2011]

Thirty families living in a village in the Tiruvallur district of India all have one thing in common: They are now free after spending years in bonded labor at a nearby brick kiln, said Gayatri Patel, who visited the village in 2006.

"The people I met with told me the owner of the brick kiln who had practically enslaved these people had been arrested, but he was only sentenced to one night in prison," Patel recently told a Georgetown audience. "The next morning when he left, he just went back to his brick kiln, rounded up another 100 bonded laborers and put them to work."

NGO worker involved in human trafficking arrested

Manisha Sharma, HindustanTimes, Lucknow, March 9, 2007

soc.culture.indian.marathi.free-usenet.eu/Human-Trafficking/Prostitution-Sid-Harth_T24253265_S1

[accessed 14 July 2013]

Arrest of an activist working for a non-government organisation (NGO) for his alleged involvement in human trafficking of 13 Nepalese women in Maharajganj district on Thursday has put a question mark over the very genuineness of such agencies involved in the eradication of the menace.  This worker, arrested along with a policeman, was working for the NGO Manav Sewa Sansthan.

March denounces child trafficking

BBC News, 25 February 2007

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6395649.stm

[accessed 11 February 2011]

LURED BY SWEETS - Kailash Satyarthi, chairman of the Global March Against Child Labour, says South Asia is a major source, destination and transit area for child trafficking of all forms.  “Children are being taken for forced labour and bonded labour," he says.

"Children are being used for child marriages. Child prostitution is of course there, then a lot of children are taken as camel jockeys."  Thousands of children work in roadside food stalls

Some children, he says, are kidnapped and sold so their organs can be harvested for transplant operations.

One of the young marchers is a boy of 13 who says he was lured from his village in Bihar by a man with sweets, kidnapped, and taken to Punjab where he was made to work 12 hours a day, every day.

Human trafficking is a $32 bn worldwide business

Sujoy Dhar, Indo-Asian News Service IANS, West Bengal, February 24, 2007

bba.org.in/beta/childtrafficking/230207.html

[accessed 14 August 2014]

groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/soc.culture.indian.marathi/VdF4LtQURJA

[accessed 28 April 2020]

Afsana Khatun, a 15-year-old Muslim girl from Kolkata's Kidderpore area, has never met 13-year-old Rakesh who works for 18 hours in a Punjab village like a slave after he was trafficked from his native village in Bihar.  But on Sunday, Afsana will march with thousands of others from Kolkata so that Rakesh and other boys and girls of his age who are trafficked every day are not enslaved in a stone quarry or a red light area forever.

'The objective of this march is to build a mass movement against child trafficking and forced labour. There is no regional protocol to prohibit trafficking. We would march to make the government answerable and people aware,' he said.

Four held for human trafficking; three girls rescued

Press Trust of India PTI, Vijayawada, Jan 30, 2007

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_four-held-for-human-trafficking-three-girls-rescued_1077030

[Last accessed 14 August 2014]

Three young women aged 18 to 20 years were rescued from being trafficked and four persons arrested in this connection here on Tuesday, police said. The girls belonging to Vijayawada city were lured on the promise of jobs in Hyderabad.

Child Trafficking

Tribune, 8 April 2004

At one time this article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]

[accessed 6 September 2011]

[scroll down]

TRAFFICKING AND CHILD MARRIAGE - Due to a demographic imbalance in Haryana (850 girls/1000 boys), men find it difficult to find a bride. The easy way out has been through a network of touts who help men, young old and widowed men to find wives from West Bengal, Assam and Bihar. An estimated 5000 girls were sold in the Mewat region of Haryana.

Of Serious Concern

Editorial, The Rising Nepal, 2007-1-13

At one time this article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]

[accessed 6 September 2011]

www.realrestoration.org/nepal.html

[accessed 28 April 2020]

Incidents of human trafficking are on the rise in the country despite the presence of a number of organisations, both in the private and government sectors, and the powerful media that makes each incident of human trafficking public. The latest case of human trafficking was revealed in Nepalgunj the other day when a suspected trafficker was arrested while trying to traffic four boys and five girls across the border. Thanks to Maiti Nepal, an NGO working for the well-being of helpless girls, the police arrested the suspected trafficker. Though there is no official record regarding the number of Nepalese girls trafficked to Indian brothels, thousands of Nepalese girls are said to live lives of untold misery in the Indian brothels.

Four arrested for human trafficking

[access information unavailable]

CID Crime Branch sleuths on Saturday said they’ve arrested four persons who are involved in trafficking two girls allegedly for the purpose of trafficking.

On interrogation, police found that the girls were brought from outside the state and were being supplied by a couple to a middleman in Goa, who in turn sent girls to prospective customers.

4 held for human trafficking, inter-state racket busted

Express News Service, New Delhi, November 13, 2006

cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=209544

[accessed 11 February 2011]

At one time this article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]

Samir went the to urinal while the announcement was being made but when he returned, both his daughter-in-law and the man, identified as Ramesh, were missing, said police.

During investigations, police found that Ramesh, who stays in Usmanpur Pusta, northwest Delhi, had gone to Roorkee in Uttaranchal and followed him. At Roorkee bus stop, Ramesh and one Sandhya Devi were arrested while they were settling a deal of Rs 20,000 for the victim, police said. Police raided Sandhya's house in Roorkee and rescued a 15-year-old girl, who was kidnapped from Old Delhi Railway Station earlier.

Pak one of the key sources of women trafficking in world: UN report

Bureau Report, Zee News, Washington DC, September 12, 2006

www.zeenews.com/news322023.html

[accessed 11 February 2011]

A UN report has described Pakistan as the “one of the key sources of women trafficking” in the world.  It said that India had also lately emerged as a key destination and transit point for global trafficking of women and girls.

Bombay HC Lambasts Police Inaction in Curbing Human Trafficking

United News & Information UNI, September 12, 2006

n-cat.blogspot.com/2006/09/bombay-hc-lambasts-police-inaction-in.html

[accessed 11 February 2011]

The court was hearing a petition filed by a non-government organisation "Prerna" which has sought reinvestigation into the case wherein nine girls, who had been rescued from a brothel in 2002, had gone missing.

The court was told that the number of minor girls rescued from brothels during the last three years was shocking. As many as 26 girls were rescued in 2003, twelve in 2004, 31 girls were rescued in 2005 and 27 during the current year, the court was told.

Human trafficking from Nepal on rise [PDF]

Mohan Budhair, Kathmandu Post, Paliya India, 8 September 2006

www.ipcs.org/pdf_file/news_archive/sep_06_sanepal.pdf

[accessed 6 September 2011]

[page 22] Trafficking of Nepalese women and children into India, especially from the western districts, has increased significantly in recent days due to lax security at border checkpoints.

A large number of women and children are being trafficked into India from checkpoints west of Butwal, representatives of several Indian and Nepalese non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and security officials stated during an interaction on 'controlling cross-border human trafficking'.

Woman held for human trafficking

The Hindu, New Delhi, Aug 22, 2006

www.hindu.com/2006/08/22/stories/2006082222330300.htm

[accessed 11 February 2011]

www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-newdelhi/woman-held-for-human-trafficking/article3094285.ece

[accessed 6 June 2017]

A middle-aged woman allegedly engaged in trafficking of humans was caught at New Delhi railway station on Monday after a woman she had sold to a brothel-owner on G.B. Road here eight years ago identified her. The accused had come to the Capital to sell another young woman from Latur in Maharashtra to flesh traders.

Nodal cell in Home Ministry to deal with human trafficking

Bureau Report, Zee News, New Delhi, August 13, 2006

www.zeenews.com/news315248.html

[accessed 11 February 2011]

The centre has directed state governments to deal with such crimes in a holistic manner and to evolve an effective and comprehensive strategy encompassing rescue, relief and rehabilitation of victims besides deterrent action against violators.

Govt push to drive against human trafficking

Express News Service, Mumbai, August 12, 2006

mediacoalition.wordpress.com/2006/08/13/govt-push-to-drive-against-human-trafficking/

[accessed 12 February 2011]

A total of 8900 cases of trafficking were registered in 2004-2005. 13,300 persons were arrested, 93% of them women and minors. 85% of them were convicted, IPS officer P Nair, currently on deputation to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), quotes these figures to illustrate how the justice system is criminalising victims, but not traffickers.

The boy racer

Amelia Gentleman, Observer Sport Monthly, 30 July 2006

www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2006/jul/30/features.sport9

[accessed 12 February 2011]

www.theguardian.com/sport/2006/jul/30/features.sport9

[accessed 30 January 2018]

Budhia Singh was sold as a baby by his illiterate and impoverished mother. Now, aged five, he is India's most improbable young sports star, famed for his astonishing feats of endurance running.

India to fight human trafficking at grassroots

Reuters, New Delhi, June 23, 2006

www.financialexpress.com/old/latest_full_story.php?content_id=131564

[accessed 12 February 2011]

Village heads across impoverished rural India will be asked to help fight human trafficking by keeping a register of people who leave in search of work.  The United Nations Development Project (UNDP) is also asking village chiefs to watch out for traffickers who lure villagers with promises of well-paid jobs but force them into the sex trade.

India is transit hub for human trafficking

Indo-Asian News Service IANS, New Delhi, June 22, 2006

[accessed 21 April 2012]

The study said 72 percent of human trafficking is for commercial sex, 80.26 percent of trafficking of women takes place in Bihar - most of it happening during migration for labour - and 12.36 percent of the total trafficking is due to family traditions.

Human trafficking turning into organised crime in India

Bureau Report, Zee News, New Delhi, June 21, 2006

www.zeenews.com/news303996.html

[accessed 12 February 2011]

"Trafficking can be disguised as migration, commercial sex or marriage. But what begins as a voluntary decision often ends up as trafficking as victims find themselves in unfamiliar destinations, subjected to unexpected work," said E Rajarethinam of GCT.

Pointing out that trafficking is deeply related to deprivation, Jill Shirey, a consultant at American Centre for International Labour Solidarity (ACILS) said that people are "forced into accepting unknown jobs due to lack of options."

India rejects U. S. criticism for inability to control human trafficking

Media Release, Jun. 6, 2006

At one time this article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]

[accessed 6 September 2011]

The Indian ministry statement said India and the United States have an ongoing dialogue on the trafficking in persons, and the annual report "certainly is not helpful to furthering our dialogue."

Rep. Christopher Smith, a Republican author of the 2000 law that established the annual trafficking reports, said in Washington that the Bush administration went too easy on India by placing it on the watch list instead of among the dozen worst offenders.

Microsoft Teams with CAP to Train Victims of Human Trafficking in IT

IT News Online, 31 May 2006 -- Source: www.itnewsonline.com/showstory.php?storyid=4119&scatid=8&contid=1

[accessed 12 February 2011]

Microsoft Corp. India Private Limited, under its Project Jyoti program, has announced a grant of around Rs. 2.2 crore to CAP (Child and Police project), a Hyderabad-based NGO, to provide IT skills training to victims of human trafficking as well as vulnerable communities at risk of trafficking.

Human trafficking in the northeast fuelling HIV/AIDS

UN Integrated Regional Information Networks IRIN/PlusNews, Kokrajhar, 17 May 2006

www.irinnews.org/report/34306/india-human-trafficking-in-the-northeast-fuelling-hiv-aids-report

[accessed 14 July 2013]

We visited 25 relief camps of internally displaced persons [IDPs] in Kokrajhar in Bodoland Territorial Council, Assam [state]. Nearly 200,000 people are living in these camps without proper food. Traffickers carry out recruitment drives in such relief camps. They make false promises of jobs as domestic help in big cities.

Bangladesh busts human trafficking ring: 34 rescued

Deutsche Presse-Agentur (German Press Agency) DPA, Dhaka, 5 May 2006

At one time this article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]

[accessed 6 September 2011]

The women and children, some as young as five-years-old, were brought by the traffickers from four neighbourhood districts with false promises of lucrative jobs in India.

But they are mostly forced into prostitution as they illegally enter India, said Adhikar, a local non-government charity for children from poor families.

Need to rid Gujarat of human trafficking

Times News Network (The Times of India) TNN, Ahmedabad, May 1, 2006

timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1511528.cms

[accessed 12 February 2011]

Last August, the city police had raided several embroidery units in Rakhial and rescued 84 child labourers from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. The boys, aged between seven and 17 years, had come to Gujarat in search of employment. Subsequent raids by juvenile remand home officials and cops on jewellery production units revealed that child labourers from West Bengal and Orissa were working in sub-human conditions for some money to send back home.

Indo-Pak girls forced into prostitution

Asian News International ANI, Lahore, February 6, 2006

At one time this article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]

[accessed 6 September 2011]

In a startling case of organised women trafficking that has come to light, Pakistani and Indian girls aged between 11 and 13 are being smuggled to the Middle East countries for being forced into prostitution there. The girls, who are shown as aged between 20 and 22 on their passports, are brought to these countries on the pretext of getting them attracting jobs.

Caritas India Campaign against Hunger and Disease, 2005

Caritas India, New Delhi, 2005

At one time this article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]

[accessed 6 September 2011]

THE TRAFFICKED VICTIM IS SUBJECTED TO WORST FORM OF HUMAN RIGHT ABUSES - Mona, (not her real name) a girl from Jharkhand, aged 14 years, had been trafficked to Delhi for domestic work. Her father sold her to an agent for Rupees 18, 000. In Delhi, the agent told her employers that they should pay her salary directly to him, so that he can forward the money to her poor parents. But in reality, no money reached Mona’s parents.

Prostitution of Nepalese girls rampant in Indian brothel

Kolkata, Nov 20, 2005 – Source: news.webindia123.com/news/showdetails.asp?id=167534&cat=India

www.stopdemand.org/afawcs0153418/CATID=3/ID=146/SID=321313276/India-Prostitution-of-Nepalese-girls-rampant.html

[accessed 21 April  2012]

''Young girls are trafficked from Nepal to brothels in Mumbai and Kolkata at an average age of twelve. They are trapped into the vicious cycle of prostitution, debt and slavery. By the time they are in their mid-twenties, they are at the dead end or 'cul-de-sac','' the study noted.

US accuses NGO of 'trafficking'

Rema Nagarajan, Hindustan Times, Washington DC, September 29, 2005

At one time this article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]

[accessed 6 September 2011]

US government is getting tough on the issue of trafficking of human beings. Indicating its seriousness on the issue, the US government-funding agency USAID terminated funding to the NGO Sampada Grameen Mahila Sanstha (SANGRAM) for reportedly supporting brothel owners and obstructing the rescue of minor girls from red light areas.

Northeast girls in metros forced into prostitution

Indo-Asian News Service IANS, Guwahati, September 15, 2005

www.karmayog.org/library/libartdis.asp?r=152&libid=302

[accessed 12 February 2011]

Gullible young girls from the northeast are being forced into prostitution in the metropolises after being lured by organized syndicates promising them glamorous careers and lucrative jobs, a rights group has said. "The situation is extremely serious with smart operators flooding the northeast hunting for good looking young girls for modeling assignments or jobs in call centers with good salaries," said Hasina Kharbih, chairperson of Impulse NGO Network.  "But in reality, many of these women were pushed into the notorious world of prostitution."

Stopping the traffic

Malvika Kaul, Womens Feature Service, May 29, 2005

www.boloji.com/wfs3/wfs390.htm

[accessed 12 February 2011]

www.boloji.com/articles/5887/stopping-the-traffic

[accessed 10 February 2019]

Slavery is not dead in India. Fuelled by trafficking, it is spreading far and wide. Thousands of Indians, especially women and children, are trafficked everyday to some destination or the other and are forced to lead lives of bondage. They survive in brothels, factories, guesthouses, dance bars, farms and even in the homes of well-off Indians, with no control over their bodies and lives. Women and children are also being trafficked for illegal adoptions, organ transplants, the circus and the entertainment industry.

Police rescue 24 girls from red light area

Express News Service, Pune, August 18, 2005

cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=144500

At one time this article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]

[accessed 12 February 2011]

Police said the rescued girls had been whisked away from various places in Nepal, West Bengal, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. Some of them had been restrained at the brothels for as long as two years.

Teen escapes sex trade

The Telegraph, Krishnagar, August 10, 2005

www.telegraphindia.com/1050810/asp/bengal/story_5096435.asp

[accessed 12 February 2011]

Tasmina Khatun agreed to elope with Muku Mondal, a man she loved, not knowing the nightmare she was inviting.  Police yesterday rescued the 15-year-old girl from the Sunderbans when she was about to be taken to Kashmir to be sold off to flesh traders.

Bangla prostitution racket busted in Goa

Herald (page 1), 15 July 2005

www.worldsexguide.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-12336.html

[accessed 12 February 2011]

lists.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet-goanet.org/2005-July/033319.html

[accessed 30 January 2018]

The minor girl, Mallika, hailing from a poverty stricken family, was approached by a 'sympathetic-looking' Bangladeshi woman, who offered to take the girl to Mumbai with the promise that the family would see a change in their fortunes.  At Apna Ghar, Mallika narrated her woeful tale of being bought in from Bangladesh and being forced into the prostitution trade, to the counselor appointed by the government.

Speaking out for the `nameless'

S. Anil Radhakrishnan, The Hindu, May 31, 2005

www.hindu.com/lf/2005/05/31/stories/2005053100690200.htm

[accessed 12 February 2011]

"Anamika" (the nameless) is a documentary on trafficking of women and children from Andhra Pradesh to various parts of the country.  It narrates how young girls are deceived, forced or coerced to enter the trade every year.

Little Hands of Slavery

netGuruIndia

At one time this article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]

[accessed 6 September 2011]

In the tender age of five or six these children are made to work up to fifteen hours a day in stone quarries, fields, picking rags on city streets or as domestic servants. They do not go to school, and throughout their lifetime they possibly wouldn’t even have the barest skills of literacy.

The most important fact that one has to keep in mind is that labor for these children is not just for a means of living but often a compulsion for mere existence. These children belong to extremely poor families where if they do not earn then the family does not get to eat. At times in our society riddled with cruel obligations, child labor comes to be a natural expectation for his or her cast.

The major factor that contributes to the continuing problem of bonded child labor, is the employers' desire for cheap labor. Fierce competition draws factory owners to the plentiful supply of inexpensive, malleable, easily exploited child laborers.

Couple Arrested For Human Trafficking

Mumbai Newsline, Indian Express Newspapers (Mumbai) Ltd., January 26, 2005

[accessed 21 April 2012]

Sunil Dayalkar alias Sanjay More and wife Kushi alias Nishikant Biswas allegedly bought Asha (name changed) from one Sanjay Dutt for Rs 65,000 and then forced her into prostitution.   Asha finally escaped and approached the SSB, who raided the Dayalkar’s house and arrested the couple under the Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act

This Will Force Us To Clean Up Our Act

The Times of India, Mar 28, 2005

timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/opinion/edit-page/VIEW-This-will-force-us-to-clean-up-our-act/articleshow/1063699.cms

[accessed 12 February 2011]

timesofindia.indiatimes.com/edit-page/VIEW-This-will-force-us-to-clean-up-our-act/articleshow/1063699.cms

[accessed 30 January 2018]

NGOs estimate that at least 7,000 girls are trafficked into India from Nepal every year. They mostly end up in brothels in metros, condemned to a life of deprivation and torture. Children who are trafficked end up either in the flesh trade or become child labor.

17,000 Nepal Women Forced Into Prostitution In India

Xinhua News Agency, March 26, 2005

english.people.com.cn/200503/26/eng20050326_178321.html

[accessed 12 February 2011]

According to the study, the investigators talked personally to the Nepali women in the brothels of India in course of doing research.  Most of them fall prey to the avarice of family members. Local brokers come second in the line of the process of selling them there.

The Saving of Innocents - The Satya Interview with Ruchira Gupta

Satya, January 2005

www.satyamag.com/jan05/gupta.html

[accessed 12 February 2011]

An uncle or a family friend pays the parent something like $30. There is the middleman in a packed city, the border guard who takes a payoff, and the agent who takes the girls across the border to the people who then transport them to Bombay and on to the brothel madam, who buys the girls for $50 to $100.

Human Trafficking Situation In India Grim

Times News Network (The Times of India) TNN, Mumbai, Feb 4, 2005

timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1012186.cms

[accessed 12 February 2011]

"The Government of India has shown little progress in addressing anti-trafficking in persons concerns since May... In Mumbai, convictions for trafficking-related offences increased from three in 2003 to 11 thus far in 2004 but remain grossly unrepresentative in a city of over 18 million inhabitants."

Slavery Today | Introduction

Auriana Ojeda.  "Introduction." At Issue: Slavery Today. Ed. Auriana Ojeda. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2003. August 2004

www.enotes.com/slavery-today-article/

[accessed 12 February 2011]

www.demes.teimes.gr/spoudastirio/E-NOTES/S/Slavery_Today_Viewpoints.pdf

[accessed 30 January 2018]

INTRODUCTION -- The most common form of slavery today is debt bondage or bonded labor. A person enters into debt bondage when his or her labor is demanded as a way to pay back a loan. In India, for example, debts running from $14 to $214 are usually incurred for basic necessities, such as food, medical emergencies, marriage dowries (a long-standing cultural tradition), or funeral expenses. Taking into account the outrageous interest rates, often in excess of 60 percent, and the debtors’ meager wages, these loans are difficult, if not impossible, to repay. Moreover, inaccurate bookkeeping on the part of the moneylender ensures that the debtor never pays off the loan. Individuals are then forced to repay loans by working for the moneylender for the rest of their lives and often pass the same debt on to their children and grandchildren. Human rights groups estimate that there are approximately 20 million bonded laborers throughout the world.

India could lead the fight against human trafficking

Vinay Kumar, The Hindu, New Delhi, Feb 01, 2004

www.hindu.com/2004/02/01/stories/2004020114221000.htm

[accessed 12 February 2011]

In a bid to combat the menace, the U.S. would like to expand its dialogue with India, including its law enforcement agencies. Talking to The Hindu here, the visiting U.S. Assistant Attorney-General, R. Alexander Acosta, said that India faced a handicap in the fight against such crimes due to the lack of a federal law enforcement agency.

During the past three years, the Vajpayee Government has tried to push the idea. But several States have expressed doubts that it would usurp the rights of their police organisations.

Lauding the shift in India's approach to nab the traffickers, rather than the victims, Mr. Acosta hoped that the trend would continue. The three Ps — prosecution, prevention and protection — played a crucial role in checking trafficking.

Probe into Iraq trafficking claims

CNN State Department Producer Elise Labott, Washington DC, May 5, 2004

edition.cnn.com/2004/US/05/05/iraq.india.trafficking/

[accessed 12 February 2011]

Indian press reports said that Indian nationals in Jordan and Kuwait were recruited for jobs in U.S. military camps in Iraq as cooks, butchers, laundry workers and handymen.  Some of the Indians charge they signed up through Indian employment companies to work in Kuwait, but ended up in Iraq working for low pay and were refused permission to leave the country.

Pulling the Rug out from Under Us - A Report on Debt Bondage, Carpet-Marking, and Child Slavery

Swathi Mehta, Tufts University, American Anti-Slavery Group

At one time this article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]

[accessed 6 September 2011]

Ironically, India, the world’s largest democracy, is also home to more slaves than all the other countries of the world combined.1 With roughly one billion inhabitants, India supports over 15% of the world’s population.2 And with more than half of India’s population living below the income poverty line3, nearly 40% of the population cannot afford a sufficient diet.4 As inadequate government expenditure on education, health, and welfare increases the high vulnerability of much of India’s vast population, exploitation – even enslavement – are everyday realities for many Indians.

Unresolved Crisis

Sanjaya Dhakal, Nepal News, VOL. 23, NO. 37, APR 02 -  APR 08  2004 ( CHAITRA 20, 2060 )

At one time this article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]

[accessed 6 September 2011]

A recent study by International Labor Organization (ILO) showed that around 12000 Nepalese women and children are trafficked every year. They are mostly trafficked across the border to India for the purpose of prostitution.  Although Nepal has been suffering from this problem for long, there are still no comprehensive data regarding the actual situation of trafficking.

“An analysis of information from print media, case studies and surveys on trafficked survivors shows the age groups, 11-18 years for girls and 6-12 years for boys to be more vulnerable to trafficking. The percentage of trafficking is the highest among hill ethnic groups, followed by Brahmin, Chhetri and occupational castes. There is a great variation in data relating to the educational level of trafficked persons. Nevertheless various reports show that illiterate persons are more vulnerable than literate persons are,” states the book.

Child Prostitution in Nepal/India

Plan-UK

At one time this article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]

[accessed 6 September 2011]

Every year, thousands of Nepalese girls, some as young as 11 are sent to or procured for brothels in the big Indian cities, like Bombay or Calcutta.

They are often the daughters of poor farming families, where everyone must help with the family income. Girls have little or no earning potential, and if they are to marry need substantial dowries. So, when the middleman arrives in the village, and promises parents cash in return for taking the girls to work in India, or perhaps in "the circus", and that they will be fed, housed and cared for, the offer is hard to resist.

In reality, many of these girls are taken to work in Indian brothels, where new, young girls are much sought after, and their families may never hear from them again.

Anti Trafficking -Save Our Sisters Movement (SOS)

Robert I. Freidman, "India's Shame" Sexual Slavery and Political Corruption Are Leading to an AIDS Catastrophe," - The Nation, 8 April 1996

At one time this article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]

[accessed 6 September 2011]

EVERY HOUR, FOUR WOMEN AND GIRLS IN INDIA ENTER PROSTITUTION, THREE OF THEM AGAINST THEIR WILL - 13-year-old Mira of Nepal was offered a job as a domestic worker in Mumbai, India. Instead she arrived at a brothel on Mumbai's Falkland Road, where tens of thousands of young women are displayed in row after row of zoo-like animal cages. Her father had been duped into giving her to a trafficker. When she refused to have sex, she was dragged into a torture chamber in a dark alley used for 'breaking-in' new girls. She was locked in a narrow, windowless room without food or water. On the fourth day, one of the madam's goondas (thug) wrestled her to the floor and banged her head against the concrete until she passed out. When she awoke, she was naked; a "rattan" cane smeared with pureed red chilli peppers shoved into her vagina. Later she was raped by the goonda. Afterwards, she complied with their demands. The madam told Mira that she had been sold to the brothel for 50,000 rupees (about US$ 1,700), that she had to work until she paid off her debt. Mira was sold to a client who became her pimp.'

Young flesh in the trade

Malvika Kaul, Women's Feature Service WFS, New Delhi, October 2004

indiatogether.org/2004/oct/hrt-traffic.htm

[accessed 12 February 2011]

Every year, an average of 22,480 women and 44,476 children are reported missing in India. Out of these, every year, an average of 5,452 women and 11,008 children are not traced. A recent report, Action Research on Trafficking in Women and Children in India - 2002-2003 indicates that many of the missing persons are not really missing but are instead trafficked.

Take the story of Parvathi Vinayak, a young girl in Maharashtra who was reported missing. She was abused and sexually exploited in a beer bar, according to the report. Even when it was confirmed that PV had been trafficked, the police records still had her name listed in the 'missing' list. Similarly, Suhasini Lakshmi, a Class 9 student in Karnataka, was brought to Mumbai by her neighbour for a job. While her parents complained to the police that she was missing, SL was sold to a brothel-owner in Mumbai and was rescued after 20 days when the brothel was raided by the police. - htcp

Combating Trafficking Of Women And Children In South Asia - Regional Synthesis Paper for Bangladesh, India, and Nepal [PDF]

This book was prepared by staff and consultants of the Asian Development Bank, April 2003

www.adb.org/Documents/Books/Combating_Trafficking/Regional_Synthesis_Paper.pdf

[accessed 12 February 2011]

www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/30364/combating-trafficking-south-asia-paper.pdf

[accessed 10 February 2019]

At one time this article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]

FOREWORD - Every year, millions of Asian men, women, and even children, venture to new pastures—from the village to the city and sometimes to another country. They are driven by poverty, social exclusion or civil unrest. Their goal is to survive and earn money for their families. For many—disproportionately women and children—these journeys end tragically, as they fall into the hands of traffickers.

Modern Slavery

Ricco Villanueva Siasoco, infoplease, April 18, 2001

www.infoplease.com/spot/slavery1.html

[accessed 12 February 2011]

CHILD "CARPET SLAVES" IN INDIA - Kidnapped from their villages when they are as young as five years old, between 200,000 and 300,000 children are held captive in locked rooms and forced to weave on looms for food. In India—as well in other countries—the issue of slavery is exacerbated by a rigid caste system.

The Dark Side of Football - Child and adult labour in India's football industry and the role of FIFA

India Committee of the Netherlands, June 8, 2000

At one time this article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]

[accessed 6 September 2011]

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY - The NLI report estimates the average daily earning of an adult male in the sports goods industry to be around Rs.20 (less than half a US dollar) which is about one third of the present minimum wage of Rs.63 a day. Stitchers are normally not aware of the concept of minimum wage and are not organized by any trade union. Any protest or attempt to organize themselves can be easily crushed as they are dependent on the contractors for work.

The Small Hands of Slavery - Bonded Child Labor in India

Human Rights Watch, September 1996, ISBN 1-56432-172-X, Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 96-77536

www.hrw.org/reports/1996/India3.htm

[accessed 12 February 2011]

SUMMARY - With credible estimates ranging from 60 to 115 million, India has the largest number of working children in the world. Whether they are sweating in the heat of stone quarries, working in the fields sixteen hours a day, picking rags in city streets, or hidden away as domestic servants, these children endure miserable and difficult lives. They earn little and are abused much. They struggle to make enough to eat and perhaps to help feed their families as well. They do not go to school; more than half of them will never learn the barest skills of literacy. Many of them have been working since the age of four or five, and by the time they reach adulthood they may be irrevocably sick or deformed-they will certainly be exhausted, old men and women by the age of forty, likely to be dead by fifty.

India/Nepal: Rape for Profit

Human Rights Watch, New York, June 16, 1995

www.hrw.org/english/docs/1995/06/16/india4167.htm

[accessed 12 February 2011]

In a report released today, Human Rights Watch, the New York-based human rights organization, charged that women and girls trafficked from Nepal into India for the purpose of prostitution are kept in conditions tantamount to slavery. Held in debt bondage for years at a time, they are raped and subjected to severe beatings, exposure to AIDS, and arbitrary imprisonment. Both the Indian and Nepali governments are complicit in the abuses suffered by trafficking victims.

Child Labour Persists Around The World: More Than 13 Percent Of Children 10-14 Are Employed

International Labour Organisation (ILO) News, Geneva, 10 June 1996

www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/press-and-media-centre/news/WCMS_008058/lang--en/index.htm

[accessed 9 September 2011]

www.scribd.com/document/366840945/Child-Labour-Persists-Around-the-World

[accessed 30 January 2019]

"Today's child worker will be tomorrow's uneducated and untrained adult, forever trapped in grinding poverty. No effort should be spared to break that vicious circle", says ILO Director-General Michel Hansenne.

Among the countries with a high percentage of their children from 10-14 years in the work force are: Mali, 54.5 percent; Burkina Faso, 51; Niger and Uganda, both 45; Kenya, 41.3; Senegal, 31.4; Bangladesh, 30.1; Nigeria, 25.8; Haiti, 25; Turkey, 24; Côte d'Ivoire, 20.5; Pakistan, 17.7; Brazil, 16.1; India, 14.4; China, 11.6; and Egypt, 11.2.

Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC)

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 26 February 2004

www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/india2004.html

[accessed 10 February 2011]

[74] The Committee welcomes the ratification of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Convention on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Women and Children for Prostitution; the adoption of a plan of action to combat trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation of women and children; the initiative to undertake a study, inter alia, to collect data on the number of children and women who become victims of sexual exploitation and trafficking; and the Pilot Projects to Combat Trafficking of Children for Commercial Sexual Exploitation in Destination and Source Areas, but remains concerned that the Immoral Traffic Prevention Act, 1986 does not define trafficking and limits its scope to sexual exploitation. In addition, the Committee expresses its concern at the increasing number of child victims of sexual exploitation, including prostitution and pornography. Concern is also expressed at the insufficient programs for the physical and psychological recovery and social reintegration of child victims of such abuse and exploitation.

*** EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE ***

Human Rights Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices

U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, March 8, 2006

2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61707.htm

[accessed 9 February 2020]

TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS – Within the country, women from economically depressed areas often moved to cities seeking greater economic opportunities, and once there they were often forced by traffickers into prostitution. In many cases, family members sold young girls into prostitution. Extreme poverty, combined with the low social status of women, often resulted in parents handing over their children to strangers for what they believed was employment or marriage. In some instances, parents received payments or the promise that their children would send wages back home.

According to the Indian Center for Indigenous and Tribal Peoples, more than 40 thousand tribal women, mainly from Orissa and Bihar, were forced into economic and sexual exploitation; many came from tribes driven off their land by national park plans. A Haryana-based NGO revealed widespread trafficking of teenaged girls and young boys from poverty-stricken Assam to wealthier Haryana and Punjab for sexual slavery under the pretext of entering into arranged marriages or for forced labor. There was also significant trafficking for real marriages due to decades of large-scale and increasing female feticide.

Boys, often as young as age four were trafficked to the Middle East or the Persian Gulf as jockeys in camel races, and many boys ended up as beggars in Saudi Arabia during Hajj (pilgrimage). The majority of such children worked with the knowledge of their parents, who received $200 (Rs. 9,300) for their child's labor. Many children were kidnapped for forced labor, with kidnappers earning approximately $150 (Rs. seven thousand) per month from the labor of each child. The child's names were usually added to the passport of a Bangladeshi or female citizen who already had a visa for the Gulf. Girls and women were trafficked to the Persian Gulf states to work as domestic workers or for commercial sexual exploitation

The Department of Labor’s 2004 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor

U.S. Dept of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs, 2005

www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/tda2004/india.htm

[accessed 10 February 2011]

Note:: Also check out this country’s report in the more recent edition DOL Worst Forms of Child Labor

INCIDENCE AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - Bonded or forced child labor is a problem and exists in several industries.  Recent reports indicate that the practice exists in carpet manufacturing and silk weaving.

India is a source, destination, and transit country for trafficking of children for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and other forms of exploitive labor.  Children are reported to be trafficked from India to the Middle East and Western countries such as the United States and Europe; into India from Bangladesh and Nepal; and through the country to Pakistan and the Middle East.  Mumbai, Calcutta and New Delhi are major destination cities for young girls trafficked from Nepal and Bangladesh for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation. Children are also trafficked within India for sexual exploitation and forced or bonded labor. Organized crime and police corruption were common factors that contributed to the overall situation of trafficking in India.  An August 2004 study by the government estimated that almost half of the trafficked children interviewed were between the ages of 11 to 14 years.

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