Consortium of Non-Traditional Security Studies in Asia ß
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ß Consortium of Non-Traditional Security Studies in Asia ß Oct 2007/1 A Fortnightly Bulletin of Current NTS Issues Confronting Asia This edition of NTS Alert is part 3 of our recent coverage on Human Trafficking in Asia. Issues in Human Trafficking bonded labor. Organized crime and police corruption were common factors that contributed Trafficking in women and children is a matter of to the overall situation of trafficking in India. great concern all over the world. In South Asia, According to a study funded by United States cross-border trafficking, sourcing, transit to Agency for International Development (USAID) destination is a big problem. Children are with the assistance of United Nations reported to be trafficked from India to the Middle Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) in East and Western countries such as the United August 2004, out of the estimated 500 victims of States and Europe; into India from Bangladesh child trafficking that were interviewed, almost and Nepal; and through the country to Pakistan half of the victims were between the ages of 11 to and the Middle East. Even more prevalent is the 14 years. movement of persons within the countries for exploitation in various forms. Statistics on The movement of young girls from Nepal and definite figures of trafficked victims are scarce Bangladesh into Indian brothels is common. (see but are steadily increasing. “Armed Conflict Breeds Human Trafficking”). However, most of the trafficking takes place Trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation is within India itself. There is further movement of the most virulent form in South Asia. Mumbai, these women and girls to the Middle East as well Calcutta and New Delhi are major destination as other destinations. Similar movement from cities for young girls trafficked from Nepal and Pakistan and Sri Lanka has been observed. In Bangladesh for the purpose of commercial sexual times of hardship, this starts out as illegal exploitation. Children are also trafficked within migration and ends up as trafficking. Internal India for sexual exploitation and forced or displacement due to conflict in some of these countries, poverty and lack of employment opportunities, increase the vulnerabilities to being In This Edition trafficked. Issues in Human Trafficking Armed Conflict Breeds Human The response to combat the crime of human Trafficking trafficking by the countries of South Asia has Strengthening Law Enforcement been inadequate. There is limited awareness and to Human Trafficking although knowledge of and the willingness to The United Nations Global speak out against trafficking has increased Initiative to Fight Human significantly in the past half decade, it is still only at minimal levels. In addition to the lack of Trafficking (UN.GIFT) awareness, existing anti-trafficking legislation in 1 Compiled, Published and Distributed by the NTS-Asia Secretariat, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, NTU, Singapore ß most countries is inadequate. The law Nepal, Bangladesh and India, the study said. enforcement response – which is meant to Factors such as gender inequality, violence and provide an effective deterrent to traffickers – is lack of economic opportunities for women also weak, irresponsive and not victim-friendly. increase their risk to both trafficking and HIV. Younger girls are at higher risk of trafficking as For instance, in India, a recent survey by the well as HIV. country’s National Human Rights Commission, states that only 7 percent of the police personnel According to recent studies by Harvard School of have received any kind of training whatsoever. Public Health; one quarter of the trafficked The number of cases registered or the percentage of convictions of traffickers is low. The victims Armed Conflict Breeds Human Trafficking are often ‘re-victimized’ when brought in contact Armed Conflict and the effects of it only serve to with the law, because they are arrested on charges generate greater pools of resources for human of soliciting. In cases where the women and girls traffickers. This section takes a look at how armed have been rescued, rehabilitation and repatriation conflict has propelled rising incidents of human is not possible as the resources to do this are trafficking in the region. inadequate (even within NGO sectors) to support them. There is also an immense need for better India shelter facilities for the victims. Human traffickers are increasingly turning to India's In addition to this, South Asia is home to one of poor and insurgency-wracked northeastern states in the largest concentrations of people living with their search for young girls to work in big city brothels. Police note that at least 700 girls from the region have HIV. Female sex workers (FSWs) – as a group – been reported missing from 2001 – 2006, 300 of whom are an important driver of the epidemic. As has disappeared in 2005 alone. Activists, however, been shown in very recent research involving estimate that thousands of northeast Indian girls repatriated FSWs in Nepal, many of the FSWs disappear every year — most of whom are not reported who have been trafficked are at a significantly by families due to the stigma associated with being part higher risk than “average” women of contracting of the sex trade. HIV. With the exception of Sri Lanka, none of the other countries of South Asia have signed the According to Ajit Joy from the United Nations Office on UN Protocol on Trafficking – a supplement of the Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in New Delhi, the UN Convention against Transnational Organized traffickers are mostly women, often well-known in their respective villages, who promise poor, rural families Crime (UNTOC). good jobs for their daughters, most of whom are between 12 and 16. But in reality, they sell the girls to Nonetheless, sustained efforts have been made to brothel owners in towns and cities like New Delhi, increase the lack of data pertaining to human Pune, Mumbai and Kolkata, earning between 20,000 trafficking and HIV/AIDS. A new independent ($440) and 40,000 rupees for each girl. Police estimate regional research study commissioned by the that around 20 percent of the girls in India's big city United Nations Development Programme brothels come from the northeast. (UNDP) with financial support from the Government of Japan has revealed an alarming The UNODC also notes that at least one million Indian trend of trafficking of girls and women and HIV girls and women work in India's sex industry which is estimated to be worth around 400 billion rupees ($9 infection in South Asia. South Asia accounts for billion) annually. The rise in the number of girls more than half of the 300,000 to 450,000 people disappearing from northeastern states like Assam, estimated to be trafficked in Asia each year. Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh is partly due to tighter surveillance on India's northeastern border with The study also found that a large number of those Nepal, where most girls were being trafficked from at the risk of being trafficked in South Asia are before. young girls and women and they also run the risk of getting infected with HIV. The highest Continued on page 3… reported incidence of this double burden is in 2 individuals in Mumbai tested positive for HIV cent girls under the age of 15 years trafficked into while in Nepal, it was close to 40 per cent. The sex work were found to be HIV positive. study in Nepal also showed that almost 60 per Weak governance makes the poor vulnerable to Continued from page 2… the risk of being trafficked. The absence of Nepal effective legislation and policies as well as poor law enforcement and corruption contribute to Many innocent Nepalese village girls have been lured this. by traffickers with false promises of high salaries in foreign countries. Anti human-trafficking activists Increase the amount of data available on the have implored local Nepalese police, especially those issues is therefore vita as the lack of convincing stationed near the open Nepal-Indian border, to be data renders a lack of concern and priority on the on the lookout for any underaged girls leaving the part of national governments and other country. stakeholders. The study added that researchers Within a week in August 2007, a prominent local non- need to look beyond sex work, since those who governmental organisation (NGO), Maiti Nepal, are trafficked for other purposes also find intercepted around 15 girls, half of whom were themselves in situations that increase their underage. According to Maiti Nepal activist Keshab vulnerability to HIV. The clandestine nature of Koirala, the girls were carrying fake passports and the phenomenon, criminal linkages and the cross- didn't even know where they were travelling to. border spread mask the scale of the problem. Despite measures by the government and NGOs to protect girls from being trafficked, the situation has To address human trafficking and HIV/AIDS the barely changed, according to activists, who said study recommends better coordination in national hundreds of Nepalese girls still get trafficked to India efforts to address both issues, which are often every year where they are forced into prostitution. dealt separately, by focusing on factors such as NGOs suspect that one of the reasons for the steady gender inequalities and violence, social number of trafficked girls is that mobility restrictions marginalization, poverty, and education. Better imposed by Maoist rebels during the armed conflict conceptual clarity on the issues concerned; situation in Nepal, no longer exist. As such, human integrating trafficking and HIV interventions into traffickers are now better able to exploit the Nepalese key sectors; and laws and policies to address both girls increased mobility. Particularly vulnerable are HIV and trafficking are other recommendations girls who have become internally displaced persons of the Study.