The Hindu : New Delhi News : Study to help combat trafficking

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Aug 25, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Study to help combat trafficking

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, AUG. 24. More than 20,000 women and 40,000 children are reported missing every year in India. Of which about 11,008 children are never found. Highlighting a "clear" link between trafficking of women and children and those reported missing along with other crucial data, the "Action Research on Trafficking in Women and Children in India" prepared by the Institute of Social Services was released by the chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Justice A.S. Anand, today. The report is supported by UNIFEM.

Taking a step towards overcoming one of the biggest stumbling blocks in developing sustainable and comprehensive strategy to combat trafficking -- the lack of validated data and information -- the study reveals that more than half the victims of commercial sexual exploitation are between the ages of 22 to 35 years, while the youngest "client'' in a brothel was 16 years. The research, the first of its kind was carried out for over two years and involved intensive study and fieldwork. More than 4,000 respondents including active sex workers, rescued victims, brothel owners, customers, traffickers, child labourers and police officers were interviewed. It is also the first time that the issue of trafficking has been documented on a national level in 13 States and 5 cities. The study has also drawn up a psycho-social profile of the survivor. The harm and disability caused to the individual and society has also been calculated in monetary terms and a staggering amount has been worked out.

The data collected after interviewing 852 police officials in the study, revealed that only 7.7 per cent of the police officials think it is a high priority issue. The study also found that reporting on trafficking appears to only 40 per cent and as stated by the police officers 60 per cent of the cases go unreported. The study also highlights the gender disparity in a crime in which ironically women are the main sufferers and points out that 93 per cent of those arrested mainly under the Section 8 of the Immoral Traffic Prevention Act are women. 95 per cent of those chargesheeted and 90 per cent of those convicted are also women.

Interestingly, the study also reveals that almost 70 per cent of the brothel owners interviewed were victims of child sexual abuse. The report also found that the highest demand was for women. Aiming at finding the trends and dimensions of trafficking in order to identify the vulnerability factors and issues, so that it would facilitate the response systems in developing and implementing a holistic policy and programme to prevent this crime, the study also recommended that all anti-trafficking initiatives should follow the human rights paradigm so that the rights of those trafficked are always protected.

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